


Oh, The Adventures They Had!

by FoxglovePrincess



Category: Doctor Who, Doctor Who (2005)
Genre: 1910s, 1950s, Abandonment, Action/Adventure, Alien Powers, Aliens, Amnesia, Attempted Sexual Assault, Bakery and Coffee Shop, Birthdays, Bookstores, Camelot, Carnival, Catkind, Character Death, Chauvinism, Clairvoyance, College, Crying, Darkness, Decisions, Dentistry, Disease, Dragons, Drugs, Emotional Baggage, Emotional Hurt, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Emotions, Enemies to Friends, F/M, First Dates, Flirting, Forests, Giant snakes, Hallucinations, Heartbreak, Injury, Jungle, Love, Manipulation, Marriage, Matchmaking, Meet-Cute, Mind Control, Misguided Decisions, Mistaken Identity, Near Death Experiences, Original Character Death(s), Originally Posted on FanFiction.Net, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Period romance, Romance, Royalty, Running, Self-Defense, Silurians, Telepathy, Threats, Time Travel, Vashta Nerada, Weddings, Weeping Angels - Freeform, Writer OFC, Writers, before the beginning, grieving and loss, meet-not-so-cute, ood
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-23
Updated: 2020-03-27
Packaged: 2021-02-28 03:00:20
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 14
Words: 59,984
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22866745
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/FoxglovePrincess/pseuds/FoxglovePrincess
Summary: An American girl living in London walks to the park one day and runs into a strange man. For better or worse, her life will never be the same again.
Relationships: Eleventh Doctor & Original Female Character(s), Eleventh Doctor/River Song, Original Female Character(s)/Original Male Character(s)
Comments: 4
Kudos: 11





	1. The Doctor

**Author's Note:**

> This story was originally posted on FanFiction.net by me sometime around 2014. I have since re-read the story more recently and decided that there was just enough that I though I should edit that would warrant a re-post. Since I don’t really go to FanFiction.net anymore, I figured I would post my re-worked version here. Most of the major plot points are the same, but I changed some things to flow better and hopefully be written better. 
> 
> Let me know what you think in the comments!
> 
> This work should not be reposted on any other site (beside my original post on FF.net) without my permission.

If I didn't do it now, I would never get the courage to do it again. I was going outside. For the last month, I had lived inside my apartment. I had just moved to London for some crazy reason—because I felt like it. It might have been a drunken decision or a decision I made after a break up or even a lifelong dream. It didn't matter. I had moved from America to England on a whim and I was living, petrified in my flat. Sure, I made it to the corner store when I needed to get groceries, but other than that I hadn't been anywhere.

I grabbed my keys and my notebook along with my purse. I was going to visit Hyde Park. Luckily for me, Hyde Park wasn't too far a walk away from my flat. I had all the time in the world. It was my day off from work. Well, my work had just cut my hours and I was interviewing tomorrow and going to set myself up at a temp agency. It was the best I could do. You can only work from home for so long.

I was outside walking the blocks that would take me to the park. It was a nice day in the summer. The wind was only a bit chilly, but I wore my favorite blazer and I felt the comforting swish of my favorite skirt as I walked. It helped me carry my feet further.

I stood before one of the entrance trails of the park. I grasped my owl necklace tight. It shouldn't have been so incredibly intimidating, but it was. Everything had always seemed much too intimidating for me. But I kept walking.

An empty bench welcomed me, not too far from the Peter Pan statue. I could see it from a distance. As soon as I was seated, my notebook was out and I was writing. I had graduated from a local university in my hometown with a degree in English-Creative Writing. Of course, my degree had taken me nowhere. What did I expect? I just found a job anywhere I could. I helped people with running their online businesses or with data entry. I did odd jobs here and there. I paid my bills and avoided debt.

But I wrote and wrote until my hands cramped and my fingers went all tingly. I wrote all my stories in a notebook first. Or I at least outlined them in a notebook. No one had accepted my stories or my novel to publish. I didn't expect them to, but there was still hope. I wound my rope braid around my fingers as I sat, trying to think. My pen slapped repeatedly on the pages as I bit my lip. I couldn't find the right word to write next.

So I got up to walk around. I made it all the way around a willow tree when I heard it. It was a strange sort of engine sound—like mechanical whooshing. I paid no attention to it, but instead kept walking.

The park seemed strangely vacant seeing as it was a nice day weather-wise. It reminded me of one story I had written in college—one that was supposed to be published in a literary magazine, but never was. I found a path and started to walk along it, some gravel crunching beneath my feet.

In the distance, I saw a figure running towards my direction. A green glowing light flashed in my eyes accompanied by a high pitched sound and then the person, a man, smacked right into me.

"Hey, watch where you're going. Are you alright?" I was lucky not to be the one that got thrown on their butt. I lent him my hand so he could stand. Taking in his appearance, I noticed one thing. "Bowtie—cool. I don't usually see people randomly wearing bowties." The man hadn't spoken until then, but perked up at my comment.

"Yes, now, who are you and why are you in the park?" He was looking around, almost manic, but he was looking for something. Then he started looking around at my person. "That!"

The man grabbed my notebook to start looking through it.

"Excuse me! What are you doing? Those are my personal stories. You have no right—"

"Ah-ha!" The man cut me off, pointing at one of my stories. "Here we are." He looked up at me and then back down at the book. "You're her. You're Reaux Fallion."

"Uh, that is not my name. That's my character." I grabbed back my notebook and looked at the story he was talking about. My eyes flickered over the words scrawled in my messy writing. "This is my story 'The Lonely Gate', what does it have to do with anything?"

"Everything, I'm the Doctor." He pointed to himself then took a glance around. "Now, run." He grabbed my hand and we began running through the grass past trees of all species. It was a part of the park I had never seen—never heard of. It seemed to be an unmapped area, but that was impossible. Anyone with the internet could see the layout online. I had practically memorized it before journeying out of my flat this morning.

"Doctor, what's going on? Why are we running?"

He didn't respond, just kept hold of my hand, dragging me along. Eventually we arrived at some blue phone box. He snapped and the doors opened.

"Come inside then."

"Doctor, what's going on? Why did you think my name was Reaux Fallion? Let go of my hand!" I ripped my arm from his grasp and finally took in my surroundings. "No, this is impossible." The room was a huge expanse, but I swore we had only stepped into a small blue police box. I tried to go out the doors, but they were locked.

"You won't want to go out there." He was messing with the controls I guessed. I didn't know what to call it. But it seemed to take effect, what he was doing seemed to jar and move the box.

"What do you mean I don't want to go outside? I'd very much like to get out of here." I tried to grab the door handles again and give them a shake, but the doors wouldn't budge. I decided that I wasn't going to have any luck with getting out, so I might as well make myself comfortable. I walked up to where the controls were and sat on a chair to watch the Doctor do his thing—whatever that was.

"Well, right now, we're flying around trying to find somewhere safe. You seem to be the topic of conversation." The man turned to me giving my form a brief once over before turning back to his task.

"Me? Well, I'm nothing special, I just moved to London from California and I haven't really set foot out of my apartment for a month. Great day, today, I get abducted by some guy with a police box that's bigger on the inside." I ramble while examining my newly painted nails. The Doctor's movements stopped.

"Wait, who said you weren't important?" The jangling of the box continued as he stood in front of me, staring.

"No one said. I just assumed. There are over 6 billion people on the planet. There have to be hundreds if not thousands of people who graduate college being Creative Writers, not to mention those trying to make it without a degree. I live in the city, where no one knows my name, I don't have any friends. I have a part time job where I’m completely expendable and I'm going to be a temp. I'm not special."

The Doctor crossed his arms as he stood and leaned against the control panel.

"No one said you weren't special. You just assumed," He walked closer to me. "I knew a girl once, she was a temp. Best temp in Chiswick, I heard. And she was the most important woman in the universe." He grasped my hands from my lap and looked into my eyes. "No one, not one person in the world, is insignificant. Everyone has a spark."

"Well, you've got your special box that's bigger on the inside,” I snarked as I kept my eyes avoiding his.

"And two hearts." He pulled me up to stand and swung our hands. I smiled and looked over to him with a brow raised in disbelief.

"Two hearts,” I contemplated, “I once had two hearts. It was some complication of birth. Don't worry, they removed one. I was supposed to be part of a Siamese twin or something. I assume you still have both of yours."

He smiled at me. "Oh, you are more special than a birth defect." He spun me around.

"Of course, I can also say Irish wristwatch and spell supercalifragilisticexpialidocious without a hitch. I'm telling you, though, that's all I’ve got."

"No, you are much more." His face became pensive. After a few moments I swear the light bulb almost literally flashed on in his head. "Of course!" He ran back to the dashboard, pressing buttons and pulling levers.

With a jolt, the whole thing seemed to stop moving. I stood still, trying to figure out what was going through this man’s head.

"Well then, Doctor, what now?" I asked as I remained standing where he left me. He paused in his run towards the door.

"Oh, yes, uh, you should stay here and play around in the pool or go explore the rooms. But avoid the third door to the right in the sixth hallway. However I cannot stress how much you need to stay here." He put his hands up as if to coax me into staying put.

"You kidnap me to make me stay put when you're gonna go out there to possibly do something dangerous?” I scoff. “I'm having an adventure here, like hell if I'm going to wait around." I threw off my purse, but kept my notebook as I ran up to the Doctor. I gestured to the door. "Shall we, then?"

"I can't necessarily guarantee your safety in all of this. The people who are doing this won't take meeting you lightly." He turned to me, but he could see I wasn't going to budge from my stance. "Oh, you writers and your convictions—you're gonna be the death of me." He made some motion with his hands and we both walked out of the box.

We stood for a moment, side by side, in some sort of dense forest. Trees surrounded us completely. Brown trunks reached to the heavens of green. Almost no light broke through the canopy. Purple, blue, and white flowers sprinkled the forest floors. I found a carving on one of the trees. 'RF + DL' the letters framed in a heart. My fingertips ran over the carving, worn smooth through years of existence. There was the faint spark of a memory from my story.

"No, no, no this cannot be possible. This has to be some sort of joke. But this is exactly how I imagined it." I ran my hands along the trees immediately around the police box. My mind whirled with details that I had pictured just so.

"Laura? Laura, what is it?" The Doctor was also checking out surroundings. I wasn't paying attention to him anymore. I was flipping through the pages of my notebook. I had to find the story.

"Doctor, how old would you say this carving is?" I kept flipping through the book until I got to the page. The Doctor didn't answer. My fingers ran under the words of the story as I began to read out loud, "The carving forever held—" I stopped because the Doctor picked up the phrase.

"—held the only seed of their affection as their bodies decayed and rotted under the Earth. The skies grew black and the stars burnt cold, but still the dust of the universe sang the song of their love." I looked behind my shoulder for the Doctor to be reading over it. He stood a good few feet away, with his eyes turned to the sky and his back to me. He started to retreat around his box, his attention grabbed by something.

"How do you know that? I've never been published and I've shown no one my work since I left California. I wrote this ending the day I got to England. I started it on the plane." I closed the book, keeping my finger to bookmark the page. I walked around to try to find the Doctor. Intense confusion caused my words to fly harshly from my lips. "How do you know about this story? How do you know about me—my name? Doctor, you have to tell me!" I found him behind his blue box trying to look through the trees with his green blinking light.

"Why have I not found a setting for wood?" He mused to himself as he smack his device once against his palm. I grabbed his shoulders to turn him around.

"Doctor, whoever you are, I need answers because this is getting to be way too weird and complicated and confusing and I just want to know how you memorized my story and why that tree has those initials carved in its trunk." My breathing picked up, verging on hysterical as I continued on.

"We are in a forest of your imagination created by some very devoted fans of yours. These fans kidnap people and subject them to your story.” His explanation made me pause and drop my hands. My mouth gaped open and closed as I tried to think of how to respond. ”They make them live it out like a real-life movie. This is the forest from your book. They have created some sort of parallel reality where your stories unfold like truth." The Doctor gestured to the forest around me. I couldn't understand what he was saying.

"A parallel universe? Why? My characters die in this story." It was difficult for me to comprehend what he was saying. The sheer logistics of how this would work confounded me—not to mention the thought that someone would enjoy my stories so much as to force people to die for them.

"No time to say now, we have to go somewhere,” the Doctor said as he pocketed his little device. I looked around. There was nowhere really to go.

"Go where?" Both of us were looking around, but he seemed to know what he was looking for. "The trees are so dense here, there is nowhere to go."

"Excuse me!" The Doctor shouted to the sky. I covered my ears. "Would you like to meet the author?" The trees started to glow. It was like they were emanating specks of light that floated around us. Then the tingly feeling started in my toes and crawled up my body.

"What's happening? Why do I feel all prickly?" I asked in mild alarm. The Doctor reached for my hand. I took it, knowing that I didn't want to do this alone.

"Just stay calm, Laura. We'll figure this all out soon." He smiled over at me in reassurance, but it didn’t really work. The tingling got stronger and suddenly we were in a completely different place.

"Did we just get beamed up?" I looked to the Doctor who nodded with a smirk on his lips. "And they are?" I was motioning to the creatures before us.

"Well, I haven't seen these guys in a while," the Doctor took a jaunty step forward, though his face looked quite forlorn. It wasn’t hard to deduce that their last meeting wasn’t a fond memory. "Either way, it's time for us to go."

Now, to tell you the truth, the next moments happened in a bit of a blur and I can't exactly describe what happened. But the Doctor spoke, asked for jammie dodgers, shouted 'Geronimo!' and things started to spark and explode around the aliens. Then we were running down and down stairs. From the flashes of surroundings I caught in my gaze, it appeared we were in some sort of tower before we were back in the forest. The Doctor ran us directly back to his blue police box before I could even grasp at reality.

"I think I've gone insane,” I muttered under my breath as I tried to pull more oxygen into my lungs. Never had I run so much in my life. The Doctor felt my head and spun me around.

"Nope, you're all here and not a scratch on you. This is fantastic." He dashed away. Once again he was dancing around the control panel in order to get us flying again. Or at least, I thought we were flying. "You're not insane, by the way. You're just special."

"No, I’m really not. I'm probably just asleep in my flat dreaming right now. That's it. I'm just dreaming and haven't been to the park at all."

"You can always stick to your beliefs, but let me just tell you this. I am a traveler through space and time in this TARDIS and I've never met an insignificant person. You know, you should remember that, Reaux Fallion." He smiled. It dropped a little as he took another look at me. "I should take you home now." A little corner of my heart broke at his pronouncement. Not in the gushy romantic way, but I immediately understood and welcomed the familiar feeling of rejection.

"Yeah, I would never make for very good company. You got friends that travel around with you?" I asked as I turned my body slightly away and clutched my notebook to my abdomen. His eyes looked into a far distant corner of his mind.

"I've got tons of friends—all around." He nodded and turned, not meeting my eyes. "They have someone else. But I'm fine alone."

"Alright," I sat back down. "Well, drop me home then." The same mechanical whoosh sound broke through the air. "So that's what I heard before." A small smile graced my lips.

The Doctor turned and nodded to me. "So you did." He made a few more movements. The noise stopped. I assumed all movement did as well.

"Well then," I walked towards the door, glancing over my shoulder as I took sluggish steps. "I'll be going." I checked myself to make sure I held all my personal effects—my notebook and purse. I opened the door. I was right back in the park. Right where I had sat on a bench writing what seemed like hours before. I stuck my head back into the blue box, what the Doctor called the TARDIS. "You know, Doctor, if you ever get lonely and need someone. I'm not doing anything significant." He looked up from his controls, a smug smile on his face.

"Imagine that, I've met Charles Dickens surrounded by ghosts at Christmas, solved a murder with Agatha Christie, and fought witches with Shakespeare. I almost got killed in a library once. But imagine traveling with _the_ Laura Foster."

"Foster? That’s not right. It’s Laura Dean." I smiled taking a tentative step into the TARDIS again as what he said really sank in. "Did you just say _the_ Laura Foster referring to me? And that impressive next to Shakespeare, Agatha Christie, and Charles Dickens?"

"Oh, well, I've said too much." The Doctor paused and checked the screen, his smile still plastered on his face.

"Well, that seems to be a mistake," I snarked and opened the door again. "I should get going, again. Remember my offer." I pointed back to him, to make sure he heard me. He waved me off as I exited.

I stepped outside and closed the door behind me. I sat down on the bench I had when I first got to the park. The engine noise sounded again and I knew the Doctor was gone. I opened my notebook and began to write.

_Once upon a time, there was a man. He was known by many names, but most knew him as the Doctor. He ran. He ran far and fast. He ran even when nothing was chasing him. He ran to things and from things._

_And once upon a time, there was a girl. She wasn't significant or special, but this Doctor saw her. She didn't have anywhere to go. When the Doctor found her, she ran. Oh, how fast she ran. She followed the Doctor to nowhere in particular because he asked her to go._

_And oh, the adventures they had._

I didn't write anymore. I closed my notebook and sat, observing the world around me. The sky was no brighter. The grass was no greener. Everything was the same. It was the same air and the same earth. I was just as ordinary as I had remembered. And I was once again the insignificant speck in a census.

Then I heard the mechanical whoosh.

It couldn't have been. There was no way. Was the Doctor coming back? I stayed put as millions of thoughts flew through my head. And the TARDIS materialized before me. No sooner had the blue box fully appeared, than the Doctor stuck his head out the door.

"Laura?"

"Well then Doctor, you get lonely?" I breathed in ecstatic disbelief. I smiled and clutched my notebook close to my chest. As I scanned over his face, something made me pause. "You look older."

"You look the same." He looked me once over as well with a curious expression. "You're wearing the same clothes. When did I leave you?"

I smiled. "You left me about a half hour ago." The look on his face was one of delighted surprise.

"I'm getting better at this. Didn't know if I could find you again, so I figured I could come back to where I left you." The Doctor looked so proud of himself.

"You're an alien from the future and you don't have the technology to track me throughout time or something?" I smiled and he looked down. "You didn't think of it, did you," I teased.

"Perhaps not, but that is not the question. The question is: are you coming or not?" He gave off this smile like he already knew my answer.

"You already know." I playfully rolled my eyes and stood. He held out his hand and I had no choice but to take it. I smiled as I entered the TARDIS once again. And I wouldn't be leaving it for a very long while.


	2. Donna

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Doctor makes a stop and Laura runs into someone from his past.

The Doctor had this dance when flying the TARDIS. From the first adventure we had to the time after that and the time after that, he danced around the console. He rarely spoke about anything. It was always gibberish or technical terms or shouts of excitement. He never said anything about himself—or rather anything _important_ about himself.

"How have you been Doctor?" I asked from my seat as I watched him do his thing. The Doctor was dancing around and today determination burned in me to learn about the mysterious man with whom I was traveling. After a few trips together—filled with much running—I figured he owed me some explanation as to who he was.

"I am as I always am. I'm top notch, perfectly fine—"

"Lonely enough to come back and get me." I stood in front of him to stop his twirling about. "Doctor, so far we've faced my super fans, found aliens in Nebraska in 1975, and faced rogue Daleks in another galaxy,” I said, each one ticked off on a finger before I crossed my arms. “Look, you might deny it, but I know that you care about me. That door leads both ways. And I’m a bit concerned. Sometimes, the pain I see in your eyes—" The Doctor side-stepped me and continued his navigational performance. I took that as a signal to stop talking. My questions went unanswered, and I knew he was going to ignore my worries about his state of mind.

As the TARDIS jarred and flew about, the Doctor stopped and took hold of the monitor, looking at the screen for a long while. His knuckles turned white and his face creased with worry.

"Doctor, is something wrong?" I inched closer to him. He moved away, but his hand raised to wipe at his eyes and I heard a small sniff. I retreated from his side as he continued to waltz around, humoring his need for privacy and secrecy.

"I need to make a stop," he eventually conceded. I nodded with an affirmative hum.

"What will we be doing at this stop?" My hands played with the rings on my fingers.

"No, no. Just me. We're going to Chiswick." He turned to me, leaning on the controls. I froze in my seat. "You can look around at the shops, but I will be doing this alone." My brow furrowed.

"Doctor, if you need someone to talk to—”

"I know. I don't need you now." The Doctor's words stung. He didn't mean anything malicious by it. But that didn’t stop familiar feelings of inadequacy from bubbling in my gut. I cleared my throat and nodded. The Doctor needed time, then. I was fine giving him all the time he needed.

"Right, well, I think I'm going to change clothes," I announced as I stood from the chair. The Doctor probably didn't even notice as I left the room and made my way to the wardrobe where I had some of my clothes—the clothes the Doctor had allowed me to pick up from my flat on the day he whisked me away.

I changed into my oldest pair of jeans. There were rips and tears, but they were like a comfort blanket. I rolled up the sleeves of my oversized plaid shirt and hung my clock necklace around my neck.

I knew I needed all the comfort I could get. The articles of clothing were the best source of safety I could provide myself. Going into the past, and into the future, and to distant planets, and through space was all well and good, but my own time always made me uncomfortable—on-edge and anxious.

Standing in my room, I scanned around the furniture. My older, trusty notebook full of half-finished stories sat next to my bed on a nightstand. Sitting right on my bed was a newer notebook filled with stories of my adventures with the Doctor—a diary of sorts to catalogue our time together. I smirked as I grabbed it. I could type up every story written in the new book and people would assume the contents were just as imagined as those in my old one. But they were all true.

The engines noises rang out in my room as I stood by my bed. I hurriedly grabbed my phone and some cash. With the new notebook clutched tightly in one hand, I ventured out.

Chiswick looked like any other town in Britain. The streets were normal. There were no aliens and no threats of danger. It was just an ordinary, lazy day. The sun was shining and only a few clouds dotted the sky. It was so odd to me when I had visited the far reaches of space.

My eyes landed on a coffee shop—a normal place where I could people watch and blend into the crowd. I stepped out of the TARDIS. The Doctor waited for me by the door, leaning against the side of his ship. He had a key hanging from his fingers and far-off look on his face. He thrust the key in my face and I hesitantly took it.

"A TARDIS key, just in case you get bored," he explained, still avoiding a glance in my direction. I opened the clasp of my necklace to place the key on the chain so it sat next to the clock. "But don't touch the controls." I nodded as the Doctor turned to walk away.

"Doctor," I called after him. He barely turned his head as he acknowledged me. "When will you be back? I'll just be over there." I pointed at the coffee shop over my shoulder. The Doctor still didn't seem to notice. I felt the gravity of the situation in my gut.

"I don't know." He shrugged.

I nodded as a final plea left my lips, "Just, please, don't leave me behind." The Doctor didn't say anything in response, but he pulled me close and we stood embracing for a few moments. I clung to his shoulders. "Everything will be alright."

"Laura Foster, of course it will be." The Doctor pulled away with a small sad smile on his face and tears threatening to spill from his eyes. I didn't have the heart to correct him yet again that my last name was Dean, not Foster. There, right behind his eyes I saw the immense sadness hidden behind the boyish, smiling front, and couldn’t find the words to say anything.

He walked away, down the street. I walked the opposite direction towards the coffee shop—glancing over my shoulder as I went. As soon as I was by the door, I turned back to see the Doctor walking out of a florist's shop with a bunch of lilies wrapped in black paper. There was no woman he would see, save River Song, but she wasn't here.

Yes, I knew of River Song, Rose Tyler, Martha Jones, Donna Noble, and Amy and Rory Pond-Williams. He had told me of his many friends throughout his times. I didn't know all of them or all of the details, but he told me stories when the mood struck his fancy or I cajoled a tale from him.

As I watched, the Doctor walked toward a small church cemetery and entered. I didn't know whose grave he chose to visit, but they had to be a close friend. The Doctor must have cared for them dearly. He didn’t look back much—and that said enough about what he was doing.

That was when I felt it. A sharp shooting pain centered on my nose and forehead. The force knocked me back a bit. It took me a moment for me to realize I was standing on the wrong side of the door and someone had opened it, smacking me in the face. My hand immediately went to my nose with a curse spilling from my lips. Pulling my hand away, I saw no blood and thanked whoever was watching over me from above.

"Oh, I'm sorry. You should watch where you stand." The woman who smacked my face with the door led me inside the shop. Still a bit disoriented, I followed her without protest. "Oi! I need an ice pack over here." Her loud shout surprised me as she sat me at a table. "Sorry, dear, I didn't see you standing there. You should really not stop so close to a door. My mate Stacy once got hit with a door. She had to get a nose job. Of course I just thought that she wanted an excuse for a nose job. She did have one hell of a beak…" From that moment I tuned her out a bit. She seemed nice enough. I didn't know her name, or what kind of person she was, but she didn't seem like she meant me any harm.

She set her bag on the chair across from me and grabbed out her wallet. She looked at me expectantly.

"Sorry, what? Did you ask something? I think I zoned out a little bit,” I asked as I sat up straighter to help me pay attention. A flash of concern washed over her face.

"I hope you don't have a concussion. But I asked if you wanted some coffee or tea. I'll pay—my shout." She waited for my answer.

"No, no.” I waved her off with a small smile. “I can pay for myself. I hardly know you. Nothing's broken—you don't have to feel obligated to buy me a cup of coffee." I took my cash out of my pocket to show her. "Really." My insistence fell on deaf ears—she would have none of it.

"Look, I'm paying. Is there anything you want?" She placed a hand on her hips as she looked down at me, waiting for my response with a cocked eyebrow.

"Just a cup of coffee, then, if that's alright." I smiled up at her, my hair cascading over my shoulder. She rolled her eyes, but walked away with a smile.

I waited patiently, but my hair started to bother me. My notebook found its way to the table as I gathered my hair together and found a stray elastic tie in my pocket. I did a simple braid and waited for the woman to come back.

"Here you are." She placed the steaming mug right in front of me, avoiding my notebook. "I got you a muffin too, you looked like you could use it." I smirked as I tried to decipher what that meant as she sat opposite me.

"Thank you so much. You’re too generous," I said, picking up some packets of sugar and cream, ripping them open, and dumping them into my cup. "By the way, I was wondering if you would tell me your name. You never said." I watched as the coffee turned a pretty light caramel color as I waited for her answer.

"Want some coffee with that cream and sugar?" She asked laughing at the state of my drink. I chuckled under my breath. "My name's Donna, though, Donna Noble." She paused for a second before catching her mistake. "I mean, Temple-Noble, Donna Temple-Noble." The smile on my face faltered as an icy sensation started creeping through my veins. "God, it's been five years but I still can't get used to my new hyphenated last name. My husband always patronizes me about it, but I love him so much.” A wistful smile overtook her features as my thoughts scattered about. I took a sip of my coffee to keep any noises of surprise or comments from slipping out.

“You're married then?" I asked, catching the first safe topic of conversation that was brought up. Donna snapped her attention back to me.

"Yeah," She smiled. "Well, what about you? What's your name?" She took a sip of her tea, but her eyes were on me expectantly.

"My name's Laura Dean and, right now, I am traveling with a friend." I was trying to be truthful with Donna, but the Doctor told me why she had to leave. I grabbed a bite of the muffin and shoved it into my mouth to keep from talking too much. But Donna perked up at the mention of my friend.

"Oh, I see some traveling romance. Boyfriend? Girlfriend?" She clutched her cup in her grasp. I choked a bit on the food in my mouth and shook my head fervently.

"Oh no, no. He's just a friend." I swallowed and laughed at the absurdity of the situation. "But yeah, we travel—all around. It's so fascinating to see all these new places." I took a sip of coffee to help me clear my throat.

"You're American?" Donna asked. I smiled and nodded. "Is this one of your stops? I mean, Chiswick is alright, but not much for traveling and adventures. You and your mate should be somewhere like Paris—a couple more young people in some big city where real things happen." I shook my head, the smile dropping from my face.

"No, uh, we're not really adventuring right now. My friend had some business here. He won't talk to me about it, but I believe he lost someone close to him recently.” I played around with the cup in front of me and looked away from her. “I don't even know what to do about it. I feel like I should help him somehow, but he won't—" I broke off my sentence in a sigh as I clasped my hands around the coffee cup. I took comfort from the feeling of warmth with the mug between my hands. I looked at my notebook, itching to write this whole encounter down.

"Oh, I know what that's like, losing someone." Her voice was quieter and more serious. I looked over at her and saw a hint of a tear on her cheek. "Very recently, actually. My granddad passed." Tears gathered in her eyes, so I looked for a napkin to give her so she could dab them away. "Six months ago. Other than my husband, he was one person who always supported me."

"I'm so sorry for your loss." I had never really lost someone so close to me. I could only imagine what it felt like. I reached my hand over the table to lightly grasp hers in support. "It must be absolutely terrible to go through something like that." Donna nodded.

"It isn't easy, give your friend time and I'm sure he'll be fine. And when he needs you, he knows you'll be there.” She lightly squeezed my hand back before drawing back. I smiled. She perked up a little bit. "Well, let's be done with that. There are other times to be sad than when you meet a new person at a coffee shop."

"Well, then, Donna, what do you do for a living? You know I'm traveling. What about you?" I ate a bite of the muffin and offered her some, but she politely declined and took a sip of her tea.

"Well, recently, I've been published." She shrugged it off, but sat up in chair with pride as she told me. She seemed so happy about it. "My granddad's last request was for me to put my writing out there. You see I've had these dreams for a while—best dreams I ever had, really—and my granddad told me to write them all down. I wrote a story from them." She shrugged once more as she looked into her cup of tea. "I dedicated the book to him, you know. Like a last thank you for everything he did for me.”

I chuckled in awe. "That’s so amazing! I mean, I graduated as a Creative Writing major from college back in the states. I’ve never published though—doubt I ever will.” I ran my hand down my braid. “So is your book just like a dream diary or did you edit it into a story?"

She sucked her teeth and scrunched her face while making a so-so gesture with one of her hands. "It's about a man who comes and goes and travels in time and space. My character, who let’s be honest is really me, goes around traveling with him—sort of like you and your friend but better." She scoffs at her admission. "It's a bit daft, but it sells well enough. I also have some savings and investments from a lottery I won around the time I got married. My husband mostly brings home the bacon on a daily basis." I didn't have anything to say—couldn't think of anything. "So, you've traveled? Where have you been and how long have you been traveling?"

"Oh,” My eyes widened at her question. My mind whirled with how to answer her questions like she had answered mine—without revealing too much. “We've been so many places. It feels like we've been together for years, but really it's more like a month or so." I smiled as I thought about the adventures so far and imagined the things that might happen. "It's been the best experience of my life. I'm so lucky."

"Sounds like a great experience. I thought once I might like to travel, but then I met my husband and I knew that I was right where I needed to be." Donna smiled and looked at her watch. She popped up with a shocked face. "Oh, look at the time, I gotta go. Tonight’s date night." She smiled and stood, fixing her clothes and picking up her bag.

"Have fun on your date, Donna. It was so nice to meet you. And thanks again," I said gesturing to my cup and muffin. She tsked and gave me a half hug with one more muttered apology before walking to the door. She waved on her way out and I smiled, waving back slightly.

As soon as she was out of sight, I breathed a sigh of relief and slumped in my seat. My head rested on the back of the chair as I took a moment to just relax. It was so nice to meet her. Donna was a great person, funny, witty, and I could easily see why the Doctor would be so happy with her as a companion. A frown crossed my face as I thought of how she was forced to leave him. I couldn’t imagine how much it must have hurt the Doctor to abandon her. I sighed and sat back up.

I sat at the table for maybe ten more minutes, finishing off my cup of cold coffee and my muffin before getting up and walking down the street. A few shops down I found a bookstore. The bell jingled as I opened the door and the smell of the books made me happy in a way only a bookstore could. It seemed so long since I had been surrounded by literature like this.

"Is there anything I can help you find?" I smiled as the worker walked up to me. "Any books you're specifically looking for? Any specific genre?" I nodded as I clasped my hands around my notebook and pulled it to my chest.

"Yes, I'm looking for a book by Donna Noble, or maybe Temple-Noble. She wrote a book about a time traveler and his companion through time and space? Do you have it here? It was recently published." The worker smiled and nodded.

"Right over here." The worker gestured to a stack of books. The book on top particularly stood out to me. I knew immediately it was the book I was looking for.

'Who' By Donna Noble, Illustrations by Braxton Hayes: a fantastic tale of adventure and suspense. I flipped through the book. There were little doodles and sketches everywhere. It was a beautiful book and before I could even think, I was at the counter pulling out my money and buying it.

"I loved this book. If you liked Verity Newman's ‘A Journal of Impossible Things’, you'll love this book too,” the clerk gushed. I make an affirmative noise of interest as she scanned the barcode. I handed her the total—luckily with enough cash in my pocket to cover the cost. “Enjoy your purchase and your day." The worker gave me my book and receipt with a smile and I went on my way.

I moseyed back to the coffee store, but sat on a bench outside instead of venturing back in. I looked at the two books in my lap—Donna’s novel and my notebook. My journal was probably more like Donna's stories than anything else. I wondered for a moment how they would really compare.

I flipped through my stories from meeting the Doctor. I didn't have any pens to write, but I re-read everything I had written. None of the blurbs had closure, a denouement—everything abruptly ending at the climax. A foul taste spread through my mouth as I thought about ending any of the stories I had written. My brow furrowed at my visceral reaction. I looked at the clock around my neck. I had told the Doctor I would be at the café. I guessed he hadn't returned yet. All of my hope went into the wish that he hadn't left me here alone, abandoned. As time kept ticking by, the later the hour, the more worried I became.

After the sun dipped over the horizon, and the darkness of night started to blanket the landscape, I was reprieved from my anxiety by the Doctor slumping down into the seat across from me. A deep frown marred his face and there were bags prominent beneath his eyes.

"So," I was trying to be as nonchalant as possible. "How was everything? Did you get your personal errand done?" The Doctor stayed silent for a bit. I wasn't even sure he would answer me.

"Yes, I got my errand done. Though I got a bit distracted on the way aliens and such, you know." His biting tone threw me off, but I could assume it wasn’t directed at me. He stood up and held his hand out to me. "Shall we?" I nodded and took his hand. We walked back to the TARDIS in silence. When we got to the door, the Doctor turned to me. "You have one more book than normal."

"Yeah, and I met someone interesting today." I bit my lip as a smile formed. I wasn't sure how the Doctor would react to me meeting Donna. "She opened a door and smacked my face with it. It was nice to just sit and chat with someone." The Doctor nodded as he ran up to his control panel.

"Well, who was this kind stranger?" he asked as he smacked buttons and pulled levers. I started picking at the holes in my jeans as I stood near the door.

“Well," I paused. I didn't know if I wanted to continue. I blew a determined huff of breath through my lips. "I, uh, met Donna Noble today." The Doctor froze, shoulders tense.

"If you so much as mentioned me, Laura," The Doctor's words stung and I swear his voice cracked.

"I just said I was traveling with a friend. Nothing else." I walked up behind the Doctor and put my hand on his shoulder. "You should see this, though." I threw down my notebook to the seat by the console, but handed the Doctor Donna's book. He traced the outline of the book, and then grabbed it from my grasp. "She says the book is based on the best dreams she's ever had."

The Doctor didn't say anything, but flipped to the back cover and through the rest of the book. I watched him—waiting for his reaction. I hoped knowing about the book would make him happy, but I wasn’t quite sure.

"She wrote a book about me. And her head didn't explode. She dreams about our adventures." The Doctor looked so genuinely happy. Then a thought occurred to him. "This book has been eradicated from existence in the future. I’ve never seen—never thought I would get a piece of Donna back." I just stood in front of the Doctor. "Laura," The Doctor grabbed my face and kissed my forehead. "This is the best gift ever." I smiled.

"Doctor, can I ask whose grave you visited?" I grabbed onto his forearms, hoping he wouldn’t back away from me. The Doctor froze once again.

"A very dear friend of mine,” he replied in a murmur.

"You visited Donna's grandfather."

The Doctor nodded, his eyes welling with tears as he pulled his arm from my grip. "I hate this—feeling so human. I should be exploring time and space, and here I am, crying over an old man who was bound to die sooner or later." I grabbed the Doctor's shoulders and pulled him into an embrace.

"It's okay. Donna misses him too. Look at the book's dedication." The Doctor pulled away from me and opened the book to the front few pages. "Doctor, I know it's hard, but everything happens for a reason. We can even visit him in the past if you want."

The Doctor pulled away shaking his head. "No, no, we should move on for now." I nodded and sat down, taking my notebook off of the seat. I opened it and glanced at my writing, the words meshing together in a blur of handwritten scribbles. 

I closed my notebook again, keeping it on my lap. And I watched the Doctor. He wrapped the book in a cloth and carefully placed it in a storage box. My eyes caught his every move. The gears turned in his mind and I saw the the compartmentalization of his feelings like a slate being wiped clean. And then the boyish, happy Time Lord was back. We were leaving Chiswick behind, probably for the last time. And the Doctor started to dance, once again.


	3. Drawling

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Laura and the Doctor run into some Weeping Angels and it doesn’t end well.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Two chapters posted today cause the story is written and revised, just needs final edits. So once I do those, each chapter will be posted. 
> 
> Let me know what you think in the comments!

To tell the truth, I wasn’t sure what I held most valuable in my life. I understood the concept of worth, but if asked to think of something I prized higher than anything else, I couldn’t say definitively. I knew people hold things in esteem and protect the sacred. I just never found that thing for me. I knew I loved the adventures I was having with the Doctor. But when that all ended, what was left for me?

 **“** Oh, come on now, don't be so blegh—” The Doctor turned to me as I zoned out. I was supposed to be watching him fix the TARDIS, but really I wasn't. I was grabbing and snapping at the tights I was wearing and playing with the hem of my sunflower dress. "You said you wanted to watch me be clever. I'm being clever, so pay attention, or go away."

I shrugged, got up, and walked away. Sometimes I forgot how childish the thousand year old Time Lord could act. I threw off my blazer and it landed on the chair on which I so often sat. I picked up my notebook that was waiting there and grabbed my pen.

There had been countless times I had done this. Sitting near the console, just waiting for inspiration to strike, staring at the page before me—I just slapped my pen against the pages. There was nothing I could think of. I had all my stories from my imagination. Then there were all my adventures. But there was nothing new. It was the worst writer's block I had ever experienced. There was no plot bunny and no inspiration and nothing flowing from my brain to my pen.

"Laura," The Doctor stormed up to me. "I'm supposed to be praised as I'm being clever." I formed a small smile and directed it towards him. The Doctor was in some sort of mood. After adventures and adventures with him, I knew so much about the Doctor's behavior. Right now, it was just best if I appease him, to make his mood better.

That was how I had come to measure my time with the Doctor. In the trips we took—since time really didn’t apply. As of now we had been on about a dozen or so together. All of them creatively worded in my notebook along with random snippets of my explorations of the TARDIS.

"So, Doctor, what are we to do today?" My small grin evolved into a regular smile as the Doctor walked in front of me and leaned on the controls.

"I don't know,” he replied with a nonchalant shrug. No sooner had the Doctor said so, than the TARDIS jolted so violently that I fell off the chair to the floor. That never happened, no matter how jolty the TARDIS got. I assumed that something was wrong. The Doctor assumed so too, because he got right up and started grabbing and pulling and prodding things. "Laura, are you alright?"

I could hardly respond—I had hit my head making it hard to speak. Feeling my head, there was no real bump, just a very tender spot.

After wincing and assessing the damage, I found my voice. **“** I think I’m alright, but Doctor, what's going on here?" He wouldn't turn around and answer me. "Doctor?"

"I don't know!" The Doctor snapped as he tried frantically to assess our situation. "I think she's trying to take us somewhere." He placed his head close to the controls and stood there for a bit, as if listening. Of course I knew that he was trying to work something out. The Doctor was always trying to work something out. But it was different this time.

Eventually, the TARDIS landed. The Doctor was still leaned over the controls—trying to divine the reasons for his ship to behave so strangely. I stood up slowly, trying not to get a head rush. My feet carried me towards the door. I wanted to see where we were, when we were. My hand reached up to clasp the door knob.

"Don't go out there," The Doctor was standing straight looking at the door. "I don't know where we are and I need to scan. So I repeat, do not go out there." I turned away from the door.

"I heard you the first time." I rolled my eyes and walked up behind him, taking a look at the monitor over his shoulder. The Doctor turned around quickly.

"Did you just listen to me? No one listens to me, ever." He looked completely surprised, like it had never happened to him before.

"I listen because I don't want to die. Would you prefer me to not listen?" There was nothing on the monitor screen, so I walked back towards the door. Of course I was taunting and teasing him, but I really did want to go outside and perhaps look to see where we were. The Doctor didn't respond—his gaze firmly fixed on the readings before him.

"We're in your time." He continued to stare at his screen. He reached up a hand to scratch his head as if trying to jumble his brains and shake some knowledge loose.

"Oh, just a trip home then." I smiled and opened the door. But we weren't anywhere near where I lived. We were in a graveyard. Tombstones and statues sat in rows around mausoleums. Four particular statues stood out the most—four angels standing as pillars for a mausoleum. I started to walk towards them, but a hand yanked me back by the arm.

"I told you to stay inside. I thought you were listening to me." The Doctor pulled me back into the TARDIS and closed the door. "There are dangerous things out there. Very dangerous. Don't go out there again without me and when you do, don't blink."

I had no idea what the Doctor was talking about. I ripped my arm from his hand. What was supposed to be the point staying in the TARDIS? If there was something dangerous, then the Doctor should go out there and fix it. That was what he always did. Seemingly reading my mind, the Doctor turned to me.

"There is no way I can defeat what's out there. The TARDIS wants me to, but I don't think I can. Not again." The Doctor actually looked a tiny bit frightened by the prospect—his eyes shut tight to the possibility. "But I have to, don't I?"

"What? Are there more Daleks?" I asked. Out of all the creatures we had encountered, Daleks were the worst so far. Their lack of emotion and ability—no, mission—to eliminate everyone. They nearly killed me last time I saw them. The Doctor walked up to me and embraced me.

"No, there are no Daleks here." He put at arm's length away and stared into my eyes. "Out there, there is something much different than Daleks, but I know that you are brave enough to handle it." The Doctor clasped my face in his hands. "Out there are Weeping Angels. I've seen these four before. I thought I had finished them off. They should have been taken care of, but someone must have moved them." I nodded and the Doctor continued. "These Angels are scavengers. They just need one touch and you get thrown back in time. They kill you by letting you live. They consume the energy of the days that could have been. They stick you in some other place in some other time."

"So it really isn't that bad with the whole TARDIS." I placed my hand on the nearest thing. However, the Doctor didn't look comforted with what I had said. "Isn't it?"

"Last time I saw them, they stole the TARDIS and sent me to 1969. I expect they will want to do that again this time." The Doctor started to pace before me. I nodded, barely following along to what the Doctor was saying. "I don't know if I can stop them this time. And if you get sent back in time, I don't know if I can find you.” He sighed and ran his hand through his hair. “When you see them, just stare and don't blink. They can't move if you stare at them."

"What do you mean?" I was completely ignoring his last statement, focusing on his claim that he couldn't find me. Of course the Doctor could find me—he had the technology. He could do whatever he wanted. He was the Doctor and I believed in him. He walked away and over to caress the controls.

"I know I'm supposed to be able to find you, but this is different. My timey-wimey detector broke. And I don't have the supplies to make another one. And the TARDIS can't get us out of here.” He sighs. His hands gesture to the controls as he thinks about how to explain things. “Right now, the TARDIS is, well, the TARDIS is broken." I looked at the TARDIS. There wasn't supposed to be a way to break it.

"But, the TARDIS can't be broken." I rushed up to the control panel, pulling and pushing and switching things. "The TARDIS is never broken," I insisted with a scowl. I was more scared now than ever. With the TARDIS out of order, there was nothing we could do.

"She gets this way more often than you would think,” he says through a chuckle. He caresses a lever and plucks at a few buttons. “She’s not damaged, just protecting herself against the Weeping Angels." The Doctor stilled my hands and wiped a tear from my cheek. I hadn't realized I had been crying at all. "But we'll get out of this."

I took a deep breath to calm myself, "Of course we will." I looked around at the control room. "Any weapons we can use against it?" The Doctor shook his head. "Alright. We have to face these intensely threatening creatures with nothing but your mind and my clumsiness."

We stood in front of the door to the TARDIS, waiting for one of us to reach out to open it. I looked at the Doctor and he looked at me. He held out his hand and I took it. He opened the door and we walked out, into the graveyard.

The first thing I noticed was the lack of angel statues surrounding the mausoleum. And I knew in that instant that they were what we were looking for. The Weeping Angels were close, probably closer than we thought. We stood outside the TARDIS not moving for a few moments.

"We had better find them. If we don't move, they'll find us first." The Doctor kept holding my hand as we crept forward.

As I stepped around a large tombstone, I lost grip of the Doctor's hand. And in that moment, I knew something bad was going to happen. I took a step and the ground seemed to fall out from under me. Really, I just fell into an open grave that had no coffin in it yet. I screamed as I fell and the Doctor looked over the edge of the grave.

"Laura," The Doctor looked worried. "Don't move, don't make a sound, and if you get out of there, please, whatever you do, don't blink."

"How would I possibly get out of here?" I looked from side to side for something to grab onto, something that could help me get out. I looked up and the Doctor was gone. Tiny spaces and I never got along. I looked around the grave in front of me and backed against the side. My back ran into something that I rejoiced in feeling. There was a ladder that I hadn't noticed in my state of duress. The Doctor hadn't noticed it either. "Thank you, whoever is up there and wants me to survive,” I murmured. I quickly and carefully climbed the ladder out of the grave. My eyes scanned the surrounding area quickly for angels before climbing the rest of the way out. "Doctor, I'm alright now, I've got out of—" I looked around the graveyard as I brushed off my hands and skirt. There was no one there.

Nothing in the surrounding area, except four statues of angels weeping into their hands right in front of me. I froze in my spot, staring. At least all four were right in front of me in my line of sight. But there was no way that I could stay like this. I had to blink sometime. My eyes were straining as it was.

"Doctor?" I tried winking one eye at a time. There was some relief in it. But my eyes started to itch and dry. Of course it gets harder to stare without blinking when it really matters. "Doctor!?" He wasn't responding. And I couldn’t look around to see if he was on his way. "DOCTOR!" I thought I heard the Doctor running or the shouting of my name, but then it was probably my imagination since nothing happened. "Doctor, please,” I finally pleaded as I realized that nothing good was about to happen. I decided to address the Weeping Angels in a last-ditch effort. "Look, I don't know if you can hear me, but I'm gonna say this anyway." I took a deep breath, winking one eye at a time. "You can touch me and do whatever it is you do. I do have one request. Make me go somewhere nice, maybe somewhere where I can blend in easily." There were tears forming in my eyes. The Doctor most likely wasn't going to save me. I was gonna be sent back in time and there was nothing to stop it. I took one last deep shaky breath.

I closed my eyes as they started to quiver and then I felt it. It was like I was being stretched and thrown about. Before I knew what was happening, my body smacked against a hard surface and my breath was knocked out of my lungs. There was no way for me to know where or when I was, just that I was no longer in the graveyard. The Doctor wasn't going to come to save me. The truth sank in my gut like a boulder. He had said there wasn't a way for him to find me. I was alone—lost in time.

"What's this then?" Suddenly there was a figure in front of me, blocking the sun from my view. "Are you alright?" It was a woman with a parasol. "What are you wearing?" I looked down at my dress and then looked up at hers. She was wearing a full length dress and looked like she was from the turn of the 20th century.

"My dress shrunk." There was nothing else I could say to explain it. The woman looked like she didn't believe me. "Where am I? No, that's not important. What year is it?”

"What year? This is February 1913. How did that slip your notice?" she asked as she tilted her head in confusion.

I shook my head and sighed, "Long story. You probably wouldn't believe it anyway." She smiled at me.

"Does it involve your inappropriate state of dress?" She chuckled. "It really is quite something.” I pulled at the hem around my calves as I stood up. “As for where you are, you are in Yorkshire, on the property of my parents, the Earl and Countess Bingham. I'm Elizabeth Bingham. And you are?" Her gaze observed me keenly as I thought about how much information I should divulge.

"My name is Laura, but I don't remember much else,” I replied as I placed my hand on my head to convey some sort of head injury. I shrugged. “I’m sorry to have disturbed you, Miss Bingham.”

"Oh, dear,” she said as she stood up straight decisively. “No matter. We must get you back to our estate, Drawling Abbey. We can call for a doctor and see if you remember anything." She reached out her hand to help me stand.

"I don't want to impose,” I insisted. I took her hand and her assistance in helping me up. It was her turn to shake her head.

"I'm the only daughter of my parents and I have no one to talk to, save the servants, but they have jobs to do and my parents don't like it. You will be my new friend." She smiled and linked our arms together. "You can meet them—my parents, that is. They're quite friendly and you can meet my fiancé, Wesley." Her eyes looked off into the distance with a dreamy sigh. She braced my arm with her free hand and walked so that I wouldn't fall. "Oh, and we can get you out of those clothes and into something far more fitting for a lady."

I thanked her profusely and we walked from where I fell to the great—big, huge, monstrously giant—estate. I couldn't help but gawk at the sheer size of the whole thing. I had never seen a house this big before. The only thing I had seen on this scale was a castle.

"It is sort of big, isn't it?" She asked rhetorically with a chuckle. She looked over at me, staring up at the huge building. I closed my mouth from gaping. She squeezed my arm reassuringly. "Come on, then."

That first day, she helped me by giving me a dress for supper. The maids did my hair and I dined with her family. That first day, they sort of adopted me as a companion for their daughter. I became like their family—a cousin that was visiting for an undetermined amount of time to anyone who would ask. I didn’t understand how quickly they accepted me. They knew I didn't have a back story, but they still tried to make me happy. And I would be eternally grateful.

Weeks passed. Time continued in a linear way, a way that I wasn't used to. But I adapted to it. I also adapted to the times—thanking Elizabeth every time she explained how things were done. She didn’t question me. Instead she looked at me with pity in her eyes. At times I wondered how much she suspected of me, but she continued to help and guide me.

The Earl and Countess remained very hospitable. The Countess took on the role of a mother figure. She became immediately concerned about my livelihood. She tried to match me with gentlemen that she thought eligible. Each one very nice and each possessing good qualities, but I didn't fall in love with any of them. And I didn’t know if I could commit while still adjusting to such a different time. The Countess didn't seem peeved when I refused to marry any of the gentlemen and she didn’t pressure me, though she kept on in her matchmaking ways.

As time passed, the family introduced me to the heir of the estate and the title, a cousin. His name was Richard. I didn't initially like him. He was a snob. He looked down on me for having no background. In his eyes, I was playing a long con—no matter who insisted otherwise. He kept close to me when he visited. Not that his presence was entirely loathsome, but he seized my attention at every turn. He sought me out throughout the days and insisted on attending to me at social gatherings. He proclaimed it was only to keep an eye on me, and I acquiesced to his demands to prove my innocence in his eyes.

After a long three months living at Drawling, I was comfortable and happy and I accepted it as my temporary home. I knew I couldn’t stay forever, though—unwilling to wear out my welcome.

Richard started to stay in town at the Dower House for a few weeks at a time in order to speak to the Earl and get more acclimated towards being the head of the estate. Which meant he was around to observe me more and more. Reluctant as I was to admit it, he had found a fond place in my heart. I could only chuckle at his antics and attempts to catch me out.

One night, Elizabeth and her parents left to dine with Wesley and his family in preparation for the marriage. I was left alone to dine by myself. It was by choice, of course. I had met with the fiancé and family before, so I made my excuses and the Bingham’s left me. It gave me some solitude that I desperately needed—both to decompress and relax as well as to plan my next steps in leaving Drawling Abbey behind and forging my own path in this time.

I planned to dine with the servants in more casual clothes, but they refused. They insisted I sit at the great big table all alone as they brought out more food than I could ever eat alone. They dressed me for dinner, though objected that there was no need. But as soon as the butler greeted Richard at the front door, I understood all the fussing. Apparently, Richard hadn't been informed that the Bingham's were dining out. He was escorted into the main hall and I had to break the news to him. I inwardly groaned as I slowly stood to greet him.

"I'm sorry to inform you that the Bingham's are dining out this evening." I walked out of the library toward the man standing in the front of the hall. My hands were clasped before me as I kneaded my fingers. He watched me closely. "You are welcome to join me. The cook has made plenty of food and I am dining alone."

Richard’s brow furrowed for a moment and his chin tilted up as if to sniff me, but he instead nodded and followed me to the dining room. We sat close to each other, instead of across the long table. The food was served and we dug in. One of the servants stayed in the room to refill glasses of wine and chaperone the two of us. I had to stop myself from sighing with discontent. Irked with the absolute formality. And I didn't _particularly_ want to dine with Richard without Elizabeth and her parents as a buffer. Despite my vague fondness for his foolishness and pig-headedness, my plans for the evening included eating quickly and scouring the daily paper for some job postings to which I could apply. Richard’s presence ruined that.

"Are you enjoying the weather?" I made the first move at conversation because goodness knew that he wouldn't. I smoothed the napkin across my lap before fingering the edges.

"Must we really talk about the weather?" He asked as he sat back in his chair and covered his lips with one of his hands. I shrugged at his question. “I would rather talk about you." His comment felt accusatory as he watched me fidget with nerves—his stare attempting to bore a hole through me.

“About me?” I asked a little caught off guard. “When have I ever not answered your questions about myself?” I squared my gaze at him. “I am not here to steal anything from your family. They decided on their own to help me in my time of need.”

“Really?” He remained unconvinced as I spoke.

“Yes,” I bit back as I stood abruptly. “You insist that I have some nefarious purpose here, Richard, but you know nothing.” I smacked my napkin down on the table and stormed from the room. I heard his footfalls following after me as I stomped into the library. I glanced over my shoulder with a glare as I kept walking. “You think I am here to leech off your fortune—your inheritance—but I assure you, I have no plans to stay here indefinitely. Why do you insist on doubting me?”

“Because it’s easier than falling in love with you!” His hand grabbed my arm and pulled me to him, his lips crashing to mine. His hand cradled my face as he pulled away. A heavy sigh escaped his lips as he bowed his head in defeat. “Stay,” he pleaded, wrapping an arm around my waist. His gaze captured mine once more.

My mind raced as I saw the desperation in his eyes. His hands gripped me tighter in his plea. Hope pricked in my chest alongside the fondness that had been steadily growing.

“For now,” I conceded in a bit of a daze. My head felt too light for my body. I had never been kissed like that before. I clutched the lapels of his jacket as he held me. He smiled and it was one of the more beautiful things I had seen.

More time passed. Richard came to visit the family and we would spend time together—taking walks in the garden and having tea together in one of the parlors, all closely chaperoned. Both the countess and Elizabeth twittered in excitement about our match and even as Elizabeth’s wedding approached, they continued to push Richard and I together.

Elizabeth's wedding was beautiful. She married Wesley in a gorgeous ceremony attended by the elite gentry of the area. It was the perfect match for her and her parents. She loved him and he loved her—a not unheard of, but somewhat rare concept in the times considering their social status. She looked gorgeous in her gown and I couldn't help but cry at the ceremony. The reception took place outside as the sun set on the horizon. The mood and scenery brought a romantic feel to the whole evening. Richard, of course, was in attendance and we danced a few songs together. My happiness for Elizabeth exceeded words.

The week after the wedding, Richard proposed during a garden party. He pulled me aside and asked for my hand in marriage. Having fallen in love with him, I graciously and quickly accepted. His happiness fed into mine as we announced it to the Count and Countess. Immediately plans for our wedding began. Nothing mattered to me as long as I would be joined to Richard, a man I had found myself in love with quite easily.

Then everything changed when the engines sounded.

I was sitting under a tree, reading a novel when I heard them. I glanced around and noticed Richard just leaving the house when it showed up. The TARDIS in its full bright blue glory appeared out of thin air. Luckily, it wasn't in Richard's line of sight. He couldn't see it behind the tree where I sat. From his perspective, he only saw me staring at something in the distance.

The Doctor popped his head out from inside the TARDIS. His face lit up in a huge smile as soon as he saw me.

"Ah, Laura, there you are." He didn't look like he could be happier. "Come along, then." He held his hand out to me, wiggling his fingers. I glanced at Richard then at the Doctor. Richard paused in his walk as a servant grabbed his attention for some matter. "How long have you been here?"

"A little more than a year and a half,” I replied, pushing the words out through my clenched teeth. The Doctor took a moment as realization dawned on his features.

"I'm sorry, Laura, but we have to go now. I defeated the Weeping Angels. They won't bother us ever again." He reaches out further with his hand. Tears started to brim my eyes. My mind whirled with thoughts. I wanted to push his hand away—stay with my Richard in my new life. But I didn’t really belong. Could I really be happy outside my own time? Questions, insecurity, and doubt raced through my mind as I glared at the Doctor’s hand. I breathed deeply as I came to my conclusion.

"Just give me a moment, Doctor." I brushed out my skirt and blinked back any tears that were in my eyes and walked quickly towards Richard—my back straight and gait determined.

"Laura, what is going on over there?" Richard asked with a confused smile on his face. I shook my head and glanced over my shoulder.

“Don’t worry about that. It doesn’t matter,” I said as I turned back to him and rested a hand on his cheek. My thumb brushed against his cheekbone. I was determined not to cry. “Richard, no matter what happens, I love you deeper than I have loved anyone else in this world. But I have to go.” Richard grabbed my hand, pressing it harder into his cheek, trying to keep me there. I pressed the book I was reading into his free hand as I pressed my lips to his. “Goodbye,” I choked out as I ripped myself away from him.

I ran towards the TARDIS behind the tree. Richard's footsteps stomped through the grass as he ran after me. But I was in the TARDIS and we were flying, probably before he could even see what was disappearing. All he saw was empty space.

I collapsed into my regular chair in the TARDIS and found my notebook still waiting for me. My hands wiped at my eyes, succeeding in keeping my tears at bay. I picked up my book, ready to write after such a long time. My ha d wouldn’t stop until my it cramped.

I couldn't take it anymore. I snapped my notebook shut as I flew out of the control room, past the Doctor and the console. My notebook stayed clutched to my chest. I didn't stop until I reached my room. Slamming the door shut, I sank to the floor and crawled to my bed. Wracking sobs seized my body as I thought of what could have been with Richard. The loss choked me—utterly debilitating as I tried to breath and listen to my logical reasons for leaving him.

My eyes caught sight of the engagement ring Richard picked out for me. It wasn't extravagant or excessive. It was simple and beautiful, like our affection. It was everything I would have wanted from an engagement ring. And Richard was everything I could want in a man. He would move on and find someone else to marry and live with—and maybe even love.

I made my decision—the Doctor. Because I knew I didn't really belong in the world of World War I. It wasn't my time. I would have to move on, though it would pain my heart to do so.

I slipped the ring from my finger and found a necklace chain. I slipped the ring on the chain and clasped it around my neck. It made an imprint on my hand, almost cutting into my palm as I gripped the ring tightly. My eyes continued to leak as I mourned my loss. I couldn't stop the sobs that tore from my chest. I didn't realize until later that the Doctor stood outside my door, listening to every noise I made.

But nothing else mattered at that moment. I left Richard behind and would never have him again. I ruined his life enough by disappearing into thin air—there was no way I could go back. I would have to make do with the ring and the memories of my time with the first man with whom I fell in love.

I composed myself and changed my clothes, putting them away so I wouldn't see them. I walked out of the room, wiping my eyes. There were things to do now. I had no choice but to continue on with the Doctor. Regretting my decision was out of the question. I walked into the control room, head held high, and smiled as the Doctor looked up and smiled at me. There were pangs in my heart, but I would do this and the Doctor would never be the wiser.


	4. Dentist

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Laura’s tooth aches, but she gets more than what she bargained for at the dentist’s office.

"Doctor, I swear, if you don't fly this TARDIS faster, I will bite your head off." I clutched at my seat and tried not to fall. The Doctor flew the TARDIS recklessly at my request.

He scoffed as he pulled a lever. "Oh, you can't bite my head off—you've got a tooth ache. That's why we're going to the dentist." The Doctor danced around the console, still pressing buttons and rocketing us through time and space.

I clutched my jaw as I was thrown off the chair and landed on the floor, skirt spilling around me. I got up, brushing my skirt, thanking any higher power that I didn’t accidentally expose myself when I fell. Pain shot through my tooth and I clasped my jaw again.

"I wish River were here, she could get us there faster," I sniped. I knew the Doctor would take offense to the statement, but I wasn't really in a nice state of mind. "I don't know how this happened. I have excellent dental hygiene. My dentist at home used to compliment me on it."

"Maybe it was something you ate." The Doctor relaxed as the TARDIS stopped moving. He turned and smiled. "We're here, out you go."

"Ugh, stupid alien food. I blame you for this." I stuck out my tongue and walked out of the TARDIS. "And now I have to see an alien dentist. As if my regular dentist wasn't bad enough." I stepped out of the TARDIS and into a waiting room. The TARDIS was in the center of the room and everyone else had pushed themselves up against the nearest wall. Even the receptionist. I had to stop myself from chuckling. I sauntered up to the desk. "Hello, I wouldn't want to inconvenience the doctor, but I need him to help me. My tooth is acting up and it needs to be checked out." I smiled my most charming smile.

I don't know if it was my charm or the fact that a huge police box landed in the room, but she nodded and immediately left the desk. I assumed she was conversing with the dentist. I walked back over to the TARDIS and knocked on the door. The Doctor's cheery face popped out and I smiled in return.

"Ok, so I think they can see me today. I'll probably just have to wait a while." The Doctor's smile dropped off his face at my statement. "I am a walk-in patient." He still looked a little upset. He was never good at waiting in a linear time sense. I slightly grinned.

"Well, how long will you have to wait? I can just pop us to that time and that'll be it." He smiled at his idea, but I shook my head.

"Look, I'm a big girl. Of course this is whatever century in the future, but I mean, come on, I can handle myself." I smiled and made to show my muscles, even though I didn't really have any to show. "You can pop out and go somewhere and I'll call when you need to pick me up." The Doctor's face lit up.

"That's a brilliant idea. Alright," He slammed the TARDIS door shut—barely missing my nose—and I imagined he couldn't get out of the office fast enough.

"Just remember to pick up your phone!" I shouted as the TARDIS started to disappear. I looked around the reception room. There were only two people, so I took a seat at an empty chair and grabbed a magazine.

It might have been a tabloid of some sort, but I couldn’t be sure. The articles were about fashion and the scandal of some alien pop star dating a cyborg. There were some odd beauty tips I gawked at and a self-help column I skimmed. I flipped through it a couple times, each time growing more bored. It passed the time, just like the tabloids from my own time. The receptionist had come back out and told me the doctor would see me, but I still had to wait for the patients before me to go through.

The dental hygienist called a name and one of the patients walked through the door. At least that part stayed the same. The other occupant of the waiting room scurried over to the seat next to me and sat down.

"Excuse me," they spoke. Though they appeared female, I did not want to assume. I turned my attention to them as they sat before me. They had cat ears, a tail, and paws. They moved—ears twitching and tail flicking through the air. "What species are you?" They seemed just as interested in my appearance as I was with theirs.

"Oh, uh, I'm human. You know, from Earth." I smiled convivially. Their ears perked up and they leaned in closer to me—examining me.

"I've never seen a real, pureblood human before." Their eyes were piercing. Their close scrutinization caused shivers to run up my spine. I shifted feeling uncomfortable at the invasion of my personal space. I tried to smile and look pleasant, but my lips twitched in more of a grimace. They leaned back suddenly. "I'm sorry—I don't usually act like this. You must realize, though, you are the only pureblood human on this planet."

I nodded and kept flipping through the magazine clutched in my, now, sweating hands. But I could still feel their eyes on me. It was distracting. The magazine flopped onto the table in front of my as I crossed my arms.

"So, what sort of species are you? If it’s not too terribly rude to ask," I inquired, deciding to talk them to pass time and ignore my discomfort. They smiled, flashing their sharp canines in their feline visage.

"My mother was part human, but my father was indigenous to this planet,” they explained. “Though I don’t suppose you’ve come across one of us before.” I looked out the window in the room and saw many people walking around outside who looked a lot like her—some more feline than others.

"What is this dentist like?" I asked with trepidation in my voice. At the realization I was going to see a dentist on a cat planet, new worries started to pop up. What if he filed down my teeth to points or injected me with something toxic to humans? My tooth gave a pang and I tried not to cringe.

"Well, he's mostly human. He's older. His grandparents came to this planet to start a new life as colonists and his mother married my uncle." They explained with a shrug.

"So you're related then,” I stated as I tried to piece together what their relationship would be classified as. They nodded. "I'm sorry. I must seem rude. What's your name?"

"I'm sure you wouldn't be able to pronounce it,” they respond with a wide grin. “You can just call me Isis. Most people do." I chuckled a bit and shrugged.

"You'd be surprised at what I can pronounce,” I responded. A patient walked out of the back room and the receptionist told me to go back. I sat in my seat, confused for a second. "Don't you have an appointment?" I turned to Isis. They smiled and shook their head.

"Not really, just a lunch appointment,” they responded as they gestured for me to go through the door. I nodded and walked back into the room.

The walls were painted a stark white. Well, everything was stark white. It unnerved me a bit—seeing the chair blend with the background, and all the tools and tables, harshly white. I was about to walk straight back out of the room and call the Doctor to leave. I figured I could live with the pain, but then my tooth twinged—reminding me that it needed to be fixed, immediately.

"Welcome, child, how are you?" A hand placed itself on my back and guided me to the chair, forcing me to sit down. I looked up at the man attached to the forceful hand. He had cat ears and was wearing a surgeon's mask and goggles. It freaked me out a bit. I opened my mouth to protest.

But, of course, as soon as I was seated, his hands crammed into my mouth, feeling around. Then a scanner thing got shoved near to gagging me. I had no idea what was going on. The dentist just kept scanning my mouth and feeling around.

Finally he found that one tooth that was giving me problems.

I instinctually yelped in pain. His ears twitched at the sound and he kept applying pressure to it and pressing on it—the pain building more and more. I felt part of my mouth go numb and the taste of blood coated my tastebuds.

"Curious." He pulled up a computer screen of some sort—like a touch screen in mid air. He poked around a bit on the display. I couldn't see anything from my reclined angle. I could barely make out that there was a screen there. The more he touched the monitor the more confused he seemed to become. "This is impossible." He glanced in my direction and back at the computer. "What are you?" I swallowed blood and my fear of this freaky figure before me and tried to answer.

"Uh, I'm human?" My answer came out as more of a question than an answer and I chided myself in my mind. I had travelled through time and space with the Doctor, but this seemingly friendly dentist wearing a mask scared me stiff. Daleks and Weeping Angels were worse than this, but still I sat frozen before him.

"You can't be. There haven't been pureblood humans since the Discoveries." He looked as confused as I felt. "How have you gotten here?"

"Oh, I'm just-just traveling with my friend, the Doctor. He and I are exploring different places.” I pressed my lips together to stop my rambling. The dentist's ears perked up as soon as I mentioned the Doctor. It was curious, but it didn't really occur to me that the interest in the Doctor could be sinister. My tooth still hurt too much to dwell on it.

"Would still like me to treat you?" he asked slowly, gauging my reaction. I didn't even take a second to nod my head. It took him less time to get everything set up. He grabbed a scary looking instrument with multiple prongs and started to move it near my mouth. He contemplated it a bit. "No, this won't fit." He got up and rummaged through some cupboards. "Who gave you that splendid ring? If you don't mind me asking."

When the dentist had been fumbling through my mouth, my necklace with Richard's ring slipped from inside my top to rest on my chest. It almost never saw the light of day. Looking down at it, I got lost in the memories for a moment.

"It was my engagement ring," I muttered, threading the tip of my finger through it for a moment. "He's dead now. Nothing left of him, I suppose." I wiped away the tears that pooled in my eye. I tucked my ring back in my shirt and straightened my skirt, messed with my hair.

"I'm sorry for you loss."

A sad smile broke across my face. "So am I."

"I lost someone very dear to me once, as well. Someone took her away from me and now she’s dead.” He sighed and glanced away, his stool turning. “She moved to New New York to be a nurse and I was to join her, but she died before I could." I nodded in sympathy. I knew the feeling of losing someone. "Now, shall I proceed?" Like a switch was flipped, he turned back to me and held up his tools. I nodded.

The dentist did fixed my tooth efficiently. By the time he was finished, there was absolutely no pain. I smiled and thanked him. He led me out of the room and to the reception area. I pulled out my phone and rang the Doctor.

Of course, he didn't pick up the first time.

Or the time after that.

I sank into one of the chairs and rolled my neck. I picked up the same magazine from before. Isis walked into the dentist's room as soon as I exited. Waiting for the Doctor took five minutes or so before the TARDIS started to materialize before me.

"Took enough time," I sighed under my breath. But I smiled as I saw who was flying the TARDIS, or at least who stuck their head out. "Hello, River." She smiled warmly at me. In previous adventures, she had stepped in and saved my life, even. Our relationship was friendly enough—companionable—especially since I was not in love with the Doctor and never would be.

"Hello, dear. Tooth all better?" I nodded and followed her into the TARDIS. I stood at the console, leaning on my hands. I muttered a peppy ‘yup’ with a brief press of my fingers to my cheek. She poked my cheek with a happy chuckle and an affirmative ‘good’.

"So, Doctor, what have you two been up to while I was at the dentist?" I asked while looking at him from the corner of my eye.

The two looked at each other, the Doctor cleared his throat and River responded, "We were battling some evil aliens. You know the usual." I smirked.

Of course, I knew they probably went out on a date. They were actually rather cute together. I absentmindedly started to play with the necklace with Richard's ring on it. River obviously took note of it. The Doctor obviously avoided noticing it.

Then again, the Doctor was bouncing around, flying us to our next destination. I didn't know where we were headed, but that was the adventure of it. That was why I loved traveling with the Doctor—the brilliant surprises and mad fun.

The TARDIS stopped whirring and the Doctor stood looking confused. River walked up behind him as they examined the scanner. I sauntered up behind them. But the screen showed a code that I could not decipher. I tilted my head in confusion.

“What does that say?" I pointed to the screen and the strange characters I couldn’t figure out. The Doctor and River turned around slowly. They looked at me like something was utterly and terribly wrong. Like I not only had three heads, but my skin was blue with purple spikes running down my back—which I knew was not the case. I was the same as I always was. I was Laura Dean, or Laura Foster for the Doctor, and I had just gone to the dentist because my tooth was aching. Yet they looked at me like I was a stranger.

"Who are you?" The Doctor was staring at me with an anger that scared me. "Who are you?" He asked more forcefully this time.

I couldn't speak. I could only stutter. My mouth opened and closed with sputtered sounds of bewilderment gurgling in my throat.

"You aren't Laura Foster, you're something else. The TARDIS hates you. She's trying to get rid of you. She wants you out. She refuses to touch you." He looked around my body as though he might find something to clue him into my ‘true’ identity in the air surrounding me. All emotion escaped my grasp except fright and misunderstanding.

"She won't even translate the languages in my head like she's supposed to." I grasped my head. My hair cascaded over my shoulders. "This can't be happening, Doctor, it's me, Laura. Nothing happened. I just went to the dentist is all." I grasped at my shirt and my skirt, trying to figure out what was wrong and needed to ground myself from the imminent anxiety attack I could feel brewing in my gut.

"Laura," River addressed me, devoid of emotion—which was actually very comforting. "The scanner says that the only things alive in the TARDIS are the Doctor and I." She turned back to the scanner as my face crumpled. With clinical inquiry, she addressed the Doctor. "What's wrong? That is Laura. Why won't the TARDIS recognize her?" I backed up as the Doctor walked towards me. I landed on the chair and was forced to sit down. The Doctor took out his sonic screwdriver and pointed it at me.

The sound of the screwdriver pierced through my ears. It was so high pitched—I felt as though I might faint. I thought I did. Except I was completely awake, and didn't have control over my body.

I stood, pushing the Doctor away. He dropped his sonic screwdriver and it fell down through the open space of the grates, down by all the wires.

"Doctor, what's happening?" I asked, thankfully still in control of my speech. My feet carried me forward, to the controls of the TARDIS.

"You're not doing this yourself?" The Doctor stared at me. River ran down to get the screwdriver back. I reached out for the controls, but the Doctor held me back. Or at least, he tried to.

"I don't know what I'm doing. I'm certainly not doing this myself." I pushed the Doctor off me and he slammed to the floor. I tried to walk over to check if he was alright, to take back control of my body, but I couldn't. Whatever was happening to me, I wasn't instigating it. River rushed back up, sonic screwdriver in hand and fear in her eyes.

"Doctor!" River rushed over to him, made sure his pulse was alright. "You knocked him unconscious?" My body started pulling and pressing and switching things around. The TARDIS started moving, but I had no idea what I was trying to do.

"River, stop me, please, what am I doing?" I winced as my hand slammed into one of the levers with force. River ran up behind me. "River?" She continued to watch me. Her eyes snapped to the monitor screen.

"Laura, stop it." River started counteracting my moves—pulling and pushing things right after me. I groaned.

"Do you think I'm not trying to?" I had enough control over my head to glance at her and she looked at me. The muscles in my neck strained and snapped back in an instant.

"Laura, you're flying us into the heart of a sun. We'll all die,” she explained with more panic in her voice. I looked at my hands. They were moving on their own accord. I tried to think of something, anything that would stop what I was doing.

My hands kept grabbing at the controls and River kept working so that she could try to reverse what I was doing. Even as panic filled me and my body started to shake, my breath getting short, I could not stop myself.

"Laura Foster, what are you doing?" The Doctor muttered, having regained consciousness and standing right behind me. "Do you really want to do this? Think about this. Think about something happy. Think about Richard."

"Doctor," I sniveled. "You know that isn't exactly a happy thought." Tears welled up in my eyes and I couldn't even try to wipe them away.

"Now, you and I both know that is a lie. When you were with Richard, you were happy. I know you were happy because leaving him crushed you worse than I've ever seen,” he replied with determination. I tried to shake my tears away. He knew it was too painful for me to hear this. "I took you away from him. I made you leave him. If I had never found you, you could have had this and all that comes with it.” The Doctor yanked at the necklace around my neck and shoved the ring into my line of vision. “You could have had a nice, happy human life. You should have been angry with me. But you just cried and cried until you couldn't cry anymore. And that's how I knew you left the only happy place you had ever known."

"Doctor, I don't think what you're doing is helping," River shouted at him. But she couldn't see my hands. They were slowing in their movement.

I still didn't want to hear what he had to say. "Doctor, stop, please." I pleaded with him, shaking my head in distress. To hear all of this from his lips and of all times now, it just hurt like a bullet slowly being driven through my chest. I left Richard behind what felt like a lifetime ago. I was starting to acknowledge I would never go back to him. I finally to accepted it. I ground my teeth together, trying to stop myself from sobbing.

"Think of all the pain that I've caused you, Laura Foster. Why are you here?" He grasped my shoulders and pulled me away from the controls, hugging me as I fell to the ground. He held me as I cried and shook like he hadn't the first time. River looked on in incredulity.

The taste of metal filled my mouth. I spat and there was a small, almost too tiny to see, little metal chip. The Doctor didn't pick it up—didn’t acknowledge it—until I stopped crying. Once I wiped my eyes for a final time, I got up and looked at the scanner. My cheeks felt raw and I didn't even want to look in the mirror. I knew I looked a right mess and I felt like one too.

"Doctor," I asked as I looked at the scanner, now completely written in English. "What happened exactly?" I sniffed and pressed down my hair. I straightened my clothing, trying to play it all off as though nothing happened.

"I think that dentist you went to put this chip in your tooth. It was like mind control. He wanted you to crash the TARDIS in the heart of the sun. If I'm not mistaken, I might have accidentally killed his love?" The Doctor looked at me for confirmation while holding the chip up to the light.

"In New New York?" I remembered what the dentist had said about the love of his life; the nurse that died before they could be reunited. The Doctor nodded.

"I see, so this was revenge. I'm sorry you had to be in the middle of this." He refused to look at me. I nodded as the Doctor continued to analyze the chip from my mouth. "Well, I guess I should explain why I said what I said." The Doctor cleared his throat and adjusted his bowtie. "The only way to keep you from driving the TARDIS into the center of the sun was to make you feel tremendous pain so that this chip here would disconnect from your nerves. I'm sorry. I know it wasn't pleasant. I would have used the screwdriver if, in the process, your head wouldn't have exploded." I nodded and sat down on the bench.

River came up and sat next to me. She put her arm around me as a comfort and it helped. If only just a little bit.

"So is it over then, Doctor?" River looked to the Doctor, waiting for an answer. He turned around, smiling.

"Of course, River. Laura is fine and all things are dandy." He started to dance around the controls probably taking us somewhere far away from wherever we were at the moment. River rubbed my back, squeezed my arm and walked over to help the Doctor fly the TARDIS.

They looked happy together—synchronous in their smiles and movements. And I smiled along with them. Their jokes and flirting continued nonstop as they danced around each other. We dropped River off back at her cell and the Doctor walked back into the TARDIS, blushing.

"You alright, Doctor?" I smirked at him. Though I'm sure the mirth of my tone, as they say, didn't reach my eyes. The Doctor grinned back.

"Of course I am, Laura Foster,” he replied while fixing his bow tie. I smiled at the name. "And you?"

"Why wouldn't I be?"

We smiled and the Doctor tried to make me laugh as we flew through the time vortex. But, really, a giant chasm of emptiness sat in my gut. One that I didn’t think I could fill.


	5. Déjà Vu

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It was all very Pleasantville.

I rubbed my eyes as I stepped out of my room. My hair was similar to that of Medusa's—a wild, tangled bird’s nest atop my head. I made a mental note to braid my hair before I went to sleep again that night. The thought sent a strange sensation skittering up my spine. Something felt strangely familiar about all this, but I knew it was just another 'regular' day in the TARDIS. Something I was actually quite used to at the moment. I smiled the same smile at the Doctor as I walked into the control room. He was sitting in my usual chair, staring at the console.

"Hello, Doctor. How are you today?" My feet padded quietly toward the control panel. The Doctor smiled at me, a tired smile. I knew the feeling. I guess sometimes even people like the Doctor just needed a break. To get a break from my life, I flew away. The Doctor has a harder time escaping. This—running and jumping and fighting—was his every day life.

"Laura Foster, looking as chipper as ever,” he commented.

My smile brightened. Ever since my last dental visit, my world had been lackluster. As if I wasn't even living anymore. As if it was just the same day, over and over again. We land, we run, we survive, and we fly away. That is what always happened.

"So, Doctor, where are we today?" I sat next to him on the chair. "Anywhere particular in time and space?" The Doctor laughed and shook his head. "Well, when are we going?"

The Doctor made a sly look at the door, "Oh, we're already there." I ran towards the outside world. "Wait!" My feet stopped steps before the door. "You can't go out there dressed like that. You might start a riot." He smiled at me. "No, no pants. Go back there and put on the nice flowery dress next to the matador costume." I nodded—excitement starting to bubble up in my veins.

"Do you know every piece of clothing in that huge wardrobe?" I called incredulously and ran back. I found the dress immediately. It was gorgeous—a cream dress with burgundy and amethyst colored flowers around the middle. The cut was a 1950s style with the border print fabric and crinolines for underneath. I quickly changed and put my hair up in a nice French twist.

The Doctor smiled as I walked out of the wardrobe and spun in a slow circle. He gestured towards the door outside, grabbing his jacket and we walked outside, arms linked together. As I suspected we were in the 1950s. Except there were aliens.

"Doctor, what is this place?" I asked with a tilt of my head. He smiled at me and grabbed my arm. We started walking towards what looked like a small town's Main Street. There was a diner and a city hall—and it all looked so perfect. "This is all sort of Pleasantville, isn't it? Well, with aliens." To prove my point a guy who looked like a human jock walked past with his girlfriend, a tentacle-faced cheerleader.

"We're in the year—well the year doesn't really matter. But really this town is based on America's 1950s, as you might have guessed." I smiled, still surveying the people and aliens around us, looking so happy and content with their lives. It seemed like everything was perfect. I wanted to just run around and I had the strange urge to burst into song. The Doctor looked down at me and smiled. He must have read my mind. "Feel like bursting into song?"

I nodded and started to hum to myself. We continued walking and I realized that if I listened hard enough, I could hear a song playing and then I started to notice things. There were speakers on every lamp post playing a loop of songs.

"What is this, some sort of theme park?" I asked the Doctor. We were in the center of the town square. I spun in a circle and no one seemed to care. He chuckled as I kept spinning around and around. It was almost like I didn't want to stop. But I ran out of breath and I leaned on a rail with the Doctor.

"Not really, it’s more like a resort for people who need it. No pain or unhappiness, just one big happy planet dressed in 1950s clothing." He smiled, though it didn’t reach his eyes, and grabbed my hand. "I think it's time for a milkshake." I nodded enthusiastically as we walked into the diner.

They set us at a table. We perused the menu as we took in the scenery—lots of poppy pastels, jukeboxes, and vinyl. I was famished, seeing as I just woke up so I ordered a burger, fries, and a strawberry milkshake. The Doctor, on the other hand, only ordered a lime milkshake. I stuck my tongue out at him as a giggle bubbled in me. The Doctor handed over some coins as I turned to the mini jukebox on the table. I picked a few songs and pressed the buttons. A song from The Four Seasons, one by Brittany Spears and then one by some artist named Glarebsgdofh.

Eventually, our food was brought to us by our waitress in roller skates. The aroma assaulted my nose and my mouth started salivating. I took the first bite. The depth of flavor astounded me—just how every burger should taste. The fries were just the right amount of crispy and the shake was creamy and thick. In short, the food was just absolutely ideal.

I ate and talked with the Doctor as he drank his shake slowly. It was as though there was nothing in the world that could go wrong. The Doctor seemed to get just a little bit happier and more at ease with every bite I took of my meal. I guessed this was like a little vacation for both of us. There were no threats or people who wanted to kill us. There was just me, the Doctor, the nice people of this town, good food, happy songs, and blue skies.

The rest of the day went by quickly. There was a gathering at the City Hall, which was more like a town dance, and some people cruised down Main Street once the sun set. The neon lights of the town glinting in the darkness and creating an ethereal glow on everything. The Doctor and I stood as observers and enjoyed ourselves.

As the night drew to a close, we went back into the TARDIS so that I could sleep. It was parked just a little ways outside the town center.

"Are you going to fly us out of here tonight? Or are we waiting until morning?" I smiled as I leaned on some of the TARDIS railings.

"Well, it might be nice to stay here for the night. Perhaps there will something new tomorrow morning," The Doctor responded as he shooed me off to bed. I think he liked the idea of sticking around—at least for another day. There was no threat here. We could just relax and have fun. And I wouldn't be the one complaining about the lack of engine noise as I slept.

I changed out of the dress and folded it on the chair in my bedroom. I braided my hair and completed the rest of my nighttime routine before falling into a perfectly restful night's sleep.

I woke up the next morning feeling perfectly rested. I got up, did my morning routine and dressed in some jeans and a t-shirt. I yawned and walked out of my room, adjusting the shoulders of my shirt as I walked.

I rubbed my eyes and made my way to the console room. My hair was a bit out of control. I made a mental note that I should braid my hair before falling asleep. The thought sent a strange feeling running up my spine, but I brushed it off, shaking my head. It was just another day in the TARDIS.

I walked into the console room and smiled at the Doctor. He was staring at the controls, sitting in my chair.

"Hello, Doctor, how are you today?" I looked over home closely. There was weariness in his eyes as he smiled at me. He needed a break from being himself. He was always running and jumping and fighting. He never got to relax.

"Laura Foster, you're looking well rested today,” he stated in an almost weary tone. I pondered, for a moment, how much sleep he was getting.

My cheeks hurt as my smile grew wider by forced habit. It seemed so ordinary for me to be like this—so dull. Ever since visiting the dentist it was if I was living the same day. Each day was the same as the last. We land, we run, we survive, and we fly away. Same again and again.

"So, Doctor, where are we today?" I asked as I slumped next to him. "Anywhere particular in time and space?" The Doctor nodded mechanically. "Well, when are we going?" The Doctor kept nodding his head.

"Just check outside." He gestured to the entrance of the TARDIS. I ran over to the door. My hand was on the knob before the Doctor called out to me again. "You're going to want to change first. There's a very pretty dress that would look nice on you in the wardrobe." I smiled and scurried my way out of the room. "You'll find it right next to the matador costume."

"Do you know every piece of clothing in that huge wardrobe?" I called back as I walked into the room and found the dress. It was hard to miss next to the gaudy costume. The dress, however, was beautiful and elegant—cream with a border print of burgundy and amethyst flowers. I loved that it was in the 1950s style. I situated the crinolines and the dress on my body. I pinned my hair up after combing it into a French twist.

My feet carried me out of the wardrobe and towards the door. I caught the Doctor smiling at me. We walked outside as he grabbed his jacket. My eyes scanned the scenery. There were aliens everywhere, but I could swear we were in the 1950s on Earth.

"Doctor, what is this place?" I grabbed his arm, linking it with mine. He smiled. The setting looked like a small town and we were walking down the Main Street. I spotted a city hall and a diner. It was all so picturesque. "This is all sort of Pleasantville, isn't it? Well, with aliens." A cheerleader with tentacles on her face walked past us with her human jock boyfriend.

"The year doesn't matter. We're in a town based on America's 1950s. You might have guessed that." I smiled. Everyone here looked so happy and content. It was too good to be true. I had the strange urge to burst into song and I was afraid I didn't have the self control to stop myself. The Doctor looked down and seemingly read my mind. "You're about to burst into song, aren't you?" I nodded enthusiastically in response.

We continued to walk through the town square. I couldn't help myself and started to hum a song. It was the same song that I realized was playing over speakers. They were set up on the lamp posts and they were playing a song loop.

"What is this, some sort of theme park?" I asked as I noticed the very staged surroundings. We had reached the center of town square and I spun in a circle. I couldn't stop myself from turning around and around. The Doctor chuckled at my actions. I leaned on a railing next to the Doctor as I ran out of breath.

"Just a town that likes happiness and 1950s clothing—set up like a resort for those who need it. No pain or hurt, just contentment—where nothing is wrong." He grabbed my hand and we walked towards the diner. My steps felt more like a skip as we approached. "Doesn't a milkshake sound nice?" I hummed in agreement as we came to be in front of the restaurant. I stepped inside first and bounced on my toes.

We were seated at a booth near the window and the waiter came over to take our orders. I didn't even need a minute to glance over the menu. For some reason I was starving—probably because I had just woken up and hadn't eaten breakfast yet. I ordered a burger, fries and a strawberry milkshake. The Doctor just got a raspberry cheesecake shake. I smiled and stuck my tongue out at him. My attention was drawn to the mini jukebox at our table and found some interesting songs as the Doctor passed me some coins. There was one by The Four Seasons, one by Brittany Spears, and a song by something called Glarebsgdofh. I didn't really know the last one, but it was the future—how bad could it be if it was included in a jukebox? The food took a little while to arrive delivered by a waitress on roller skates, but when it did, it smelled mouthwatering.

The first bite of my burger made my taste buds sing. It was the best burger I had ever tasted, like how every burger should taste. The fries were perfectly crisp and the milkshake had just enough strawberry flavor without being too tart. All the food was just scrumptious.

The Doctor and I spoke and ate as if nothing could go wrong. The Doctor was at ease and happy. It was like he was getting a vacation. No one wanted to kill us and there were no vicious creatures prepared to attack us. There was just me, the Doctor, the nice people of this planet, good food, happy songs and blue skies.

The day just didn't seem long enough for all the things to see in town. In the evening, there was a dance at the City Hall and Main Street was the place for people to just cruise in the brilliant glow of the neon lights. The Doctor and I were bystanders, watching everything.

A yawn pushed past my lips, so the Doctor escorted me back to the TARDIS so that I could get some sleep. We stood in the console room and I smiled at the Doctor.

"Are you going to fly us out of here tonight? Or are we waiting until morning?" I leaned on the railings of the TARDIS. The Doctor looked at me. He was hiding something and I could see it behind his eyes, but I didn't press the matter. I was used to it at this point.

"Stay here for the night, I guess. There could be something exciting tomorrow." The Doctor stood up and hugged me before shooing me off to my bedroom. It was my opinion, but the Doctor liked this—the holiday away from himself. There wouldn't be the noisy engine sounds as I slept, so there were no complaints from me.

I did my nightly routine before bed. I stripped from the dress and folded it, placing it on the chair in my room. I remembered my thought from the morning and braided my hair. The rest of my night was completely and perfectly peaceful. I slept without tossing or turning.

Except when I heard a creak in my room. It was in the middle of the night, but I heard the noise and shot bolt upright in my bed. My heart pounded in my ears. My covers flew everywhere and as I sat there, I saw the Doctor standing in my doorway.

"What’s happening? Is everything alright, Doctor?" I asked quickly, looking around the darkness. The Doctor avoided looking at me. He smiled, though it quickly dropped from his face, and I spied the dress I had worn in his hands. "What are you doing with my dress?"

"Oh, uh," He ran his hands quickly through the back of his hair and walked into my room. "Well, let's just say that I am getting the dress so I can wash it for tomorrow." I crossed my arms.

"Why do you need it for tomorrow? I'm not going to wear it twice in a row." I got out of bed and grabbed the dress from his hands. The Doctor was up to something. I could tell by the way he was looking at me. I cocked my head to the side, observing him. He was guilty of something. "What are you up to?" I was getting a bit more perturbed as the Doctor said nothing.

"Well, I thought we needed a break. You were upset. I was a bit upset. You needed some happiness and this whole thing has made you happy." The Doctor wasn't making sense. A growl sounded from within my throat. I didn't know where the growl had come from, but I knew I was a bit more than angry.

"What do you mean, Doctor?" I stomped forward. He backed a little against the my wall. My fingers clenched in the beautiful fabric of the dress.

"We've been repeating the same day over and over again,” he replied with a sheepish shrug. I dropped the dress and it fell to the floor, spreading out like liquid. "I'm sorry, we both needed some perfection, and I thought maybe we could be happy just doing this for a while. But then we got here and I never wanted to stop." I drew in a deep breath. I was trying to calm myself, but there was something I had to know.

"How many times?" I demanded. My brain tried to remember all of the repetition, but nothing seemed to shake loose. The Doctor didn't look like he was going to answer. "How many times have I repeated this day?" The Doctor cleared his throat.

"Well, it's been the same day, really. But technically, we've repeated the same day, uh," he cleared his throat again and made the show of calculating things on his fingers—though I knew he remembered off the top of his head. "14 times. But I mean, uh, this whole town really lives the same life over and over again. It’s a retreat for those with mental or emotional problems. The day keeps repeating to keep them happy and healthy. So it was just like we visited this planet 14 times."

"Get out of my room," I insisted as I pushed him towards the door. He willing stepped out. I slammed the door and locked it. The lights in my room flickered on and I grabbed my notebook from my nightstand. "The same day over and over again," I whispered to myself, incredulous and trying to comprehend the thought. I opened my book and turned the page so that I would have room to write. I needed to write out my feelings and this was the best way I knew how. My pen scratched on the paper, ripping when I pressed too hard. Cramps formed in my hands after a while. My eyes scanned the page—a messy scrawl of scribbles, a smattering of emotions vomited all over the paper.

I took a deep calming breath. I knew I had overreacted to the whole situation. I twisted my braided hair into a bun. My slippers slid onto my feet as I walked out to find the Doctor. Just like always, he was in the console room. The chair squeaked as I sat down. The Doctor leaned against the controls. He looked uncertain. It was a look I had never before seen on the Doctor's face.

"You shouldn't manipulate me, you know." I crossed my arms. "I'm not just a toy you can play with. I'm a person." I slouched down a bit and pulled down my sleep shirt. "I'm your friend. You can talk to me. And I'll try to confide in you more. I know I've been a little listless for a while, but really, I just want things to go back to normal." I patted the seat next to me. The Doctor walked over and sat down. "I'm sorry I got so angry."

"No, you had the right to. I was playing with your mind." His eyes would not meet mine. I bumped the Doctor's shoulder with mine.

"Well, just as long as you don't do it again." I shrugged with a small smile. He nodded in reply. I trusted him to keep his word. A yawn broke past my lips, cracking my jaw. "Now I really need to get back to sleep. What time is it?" The Doctor looked at the watch on his wrist.

"It's about 3 o'clock in the morning here. I think sleep would be best for you right now." He wrapped an arm around my shoulder and pulled me close before he kissed the top of my head.

"Goodnight, Doctor." I stood, stretching my back, but paused. "Doctor," I got his attention as he turned to me. "How did I not know what was going on? How did I not remember?"

"At midnight this planet resets itself. You were asleep, so you got reset; whereas I was awake and able to remember it all. It's quite the phenomenon,” he mused. I looked at him with concern—my brows furrowed and my teeth biting my lower lip. I didn't want to forget what happened as soon as I fell asleep. The Doctor glimpsed at my face. "Don't worry, you'll be fine. You were awake at the time it reset." I nodded warily, bidding the Doctor goodnight one last time.

I walked back into my room and jumped into bed. As soon as my head hit the pillow, I was out like a light.

I opened my eyes and stretched my limbs. The clock beside me read 10:00 AM. A sigh blew past my lips as I shuffled my feet to the floor and walked out of my room. I went into the wardrobe room and grabbed a new dress to wear that day. I did my morning routine and dressed myself. Walking into the control room, I spotted the Doctor surprisingly dozed off on the chair. Trying not to wake him, I grabbed some money and opened the door. My feet carried me quickly to the diner.

“I've been eating nothing but burgers and fries and milkshakes for the last 14 days. I'm surprised my waistline hasn't expanded to the size of a house," I muttered under my breath as my hands smoothed out the front of my dress. My eyes caught my reflection as I passed a window display, nothing had changed. I shrugged and carried on.

The bell above the door jingled as I burst into the diner and took a seat at the counter. The waiter walked up with a bright smile and asked for my order. I told him what I wanted and surprisingly quickly, I got my food and I was leaving to get back to the TARDIS.

By the time I returned, the Doctor was still dozed off. I didn't want to wake him, but the TARDIS door accidentally slammed shut behind me with a booming thwack. He jolted upright and grabbed at his person. In noticing my presence, a sleepy smile spread across his face.

"So, what have you got there?" He was referring to the two cups I had in my hands. I held one out to him. He grabbed it and immediately stuck his finger to taste what it was. "Oh, a banana shake. Bananas are good. Lots of potassium. Love a good banana." I handed him a straw.

"Yeah, I figured you might like it." I smiled and put my straw in my lid. I had gotten myself a blueberry lavender milkshake. I had been deciding between a strawberry one and the one I had, but for some reason, I felt a bit sick of strawberry. I didn’t want to think too much about it.

The Doctor smiled and placed his milkshake down. I sat on my chair and the Doctor started towards the controls so that we could fly away. My lips closed around the straw of my milkshake and took a sip.

"Doctor," I muttered. He turned to look at me. "Let's just stay here for a moment. We need to talk." The Doctor nodded and sat down next to me. We sat in an awkward silence for a while before he spoke up.

"Where do we start?" He held his hands out to me, as if adding to his question. Palms facing up, we were both surrendering. I shrugged my shoulders. There wasn't a right place to start—just points in the story, moments of adventure.

"How about the beginning of all this?" I placed my cup down and clasped my hands together. There was no way to tell if this talk would be good for our friendship or not. But we both knew that there were things unsaid that needed to be spoken. Both of us took a deep breath. He cleared his throat and I played with my skirt. "Well, I don't know what to tell you." I cleared my throat and began—from the beginning, just like I said.

We spent the day talking things through—well, me expressing my experiences and concerns while the Doctor tried to understand and reassure. But by the end of it all, exhaustion draped over my shoulders like a weighted blanket. I—for one—was emotionally spent. And we were done.

I stood, grabbed the Doctor's hand, and led him outside. We were just in time to watch all the people cruising down the Main Street. It was a pretty sight to see. Neon lights sparkled everywhere and bright music played over the speakers. The world seemed right and perfect. Even if the Doctor and I knew it wasn't, it was nice to pretend that life was fine for just one more moment.

When the night ended, we flew away from the planet. I wasn't quite sure what kind of adventure was next, but for the first time in a while, I was excited and energized to see what was coming.


	6. Dragon

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Laura and the Doctor find themselves in the forests near Camelot.

I think I was supposed to be going home. I'm sure it would be ‘better’ for me to go home. Safer. Just plain healthier for me. There was security and family and friends at home. That's what my brain kept telling me.

But really, only loneliness would greet me. So I stayed—as if the Doctor would let me go. And I got to meet new people at every stop. I got to listen to so many different stories. It was amazing to see how people lived their lives—across time, across galaxies. Even though I never got to fully immerse myself with them in their routines. We never stayed long enough for me to experience it. I still found it exhilarating to meet them.

"Where are we going now?" I sat in my seat, examining my nails. We were just flying around at the moment. I had no idea where we were going. The Doctor refused to tell me. "Come on, I'm going to find out sometime, you might as well tell me." He didn't answer, just laughed and continued dancing around the controls.

"Laura Foster, you are in for the best adventure of your life." The Doctor peered around the console. "Just you wait." I smiled and leaned back into my seat. The Doctor pulled a lever and before I knew it, we were stopped.

He ran to the door—throwing them open. Some sort of dense forest greeted my eyes, a cave just to the edge of the tree line. The Doctor let out a sound of happy accomplishment before running outside.

"Come along then, Laura Foster!" He called back as he ran out. I smiled, but noticed that he had left his sonic screwdriver right next to one of the buttons. I grabbed it and placed it in my pocket. My jacket pulled at my shirt as I shrugged it on while walking out the TARDIS door. I locked the door behind me and turned to see nothing—the Doctor nowhere in sight. A slight panic seized me, but then something tackled my body to the ground. The air whooshed out of my lungs and something very hot permeated the air, but as soon as I felt it, it dispersed.

After sputtering leaves out of my mouth, I looked up into the most beautiful pair of chocolate brown eyes I had ever seen. My words caught in my throat. The man who tackled me helped me to my feet. I thought him very handsome—heat beginning to spread across my cheeks—until he opened his mouth.

"Are you a moron?" His voice—that accent—made my knees weak, but I was sure my eyes were bugging out of my head from his rudeness. "Everyone in the forest knows that this place is forbidden." I brushed off my dress and picked some leaves out of my braid.

"I'm not really from around here," I replied stiffly. I crossed my arms. The blush on my cheeks turned to a raging red of indignation. "Where am I? Have you seen my friend? And what was with the air just then—it was weirdly hot for a moment?" The man seemed to be overwhelmed a bit with my questions. "And who are you and why did you knock me down?" The man before me sighed and grabbed my arm. He dragged me along with him. I wasn't sure where we were going, but I certainly didn't want to be taken there.

"You are in the kingdom Camelot, rather the forest surrounding it. No one comes here by accident. If you were not alone then your friend is most likely dead. And the reason you felt that hot air is because you were near the cave,” he explained with an air of aggravation. I planted my feet firmly where I stood and wrenched my arm from his grip.

"Why is the cave so dangerous?" I asked, glancing back the way we came. The man turned to me and grabbed my arm once more. This time, he was not as gentle as the last time.

"The Great Dragon lives there." His statement stopped me stone cold in my tracks. He kept pulling me on, but I stood still in shock.

"A dragon,” I mumbled. “Are you serious? Like fire breathing and everything?" I smiled in awe. There was no way I should have been giddy at the idea, especially with the Doctor missing, but the prospect of a real dragon had my stomach doing back flips in excitement. The man nodded and I kept walking with him, willingly. Because of that, he let go of my arm. I matched his pace, walking by his side. "Where are we headed?"

"To the camp. Everyone will decide what to do with you there." He kept walking. I rolled my eyes and by doing so, missed a root sticking out of the ground. I fell, but strong arms wrap around my waist. The man set me upright with a huff and continued walking. I was about to mutter a thank you when he spoke. "You really are a clumsy girl, aren't you?" I glared at his back as I fell behind his pace. He was making fun of me and I didn't even know him. Of course, he did look familiar from somewhere, I just couldn't place where. I figured my mind was playing tricks on me. He turned to look back at me, a laugh in his eyes. "We're here." He seemed to catch himself and his expression went blank.

He pushed away a few branches and ushered me into an opening of what he called the camp. After gazing at the site for a bit—the hustle and bustle of it all—I looked back at him. I didn't know how I forgot to register what he was wearing, but once I did, things made much more sense. I slapped my hand to my forehead, muttering under my breath, and stepped into the clearing. Everyone was doing something—completing a task, minding their business. No one paid any mind to the strange girl in the brightly colored dress.

Then a woman approached me—her eyes examined me up and down, gauging my stature. I felt a bit exposed, vulnerable under her scrutiny. I assumed she was the matriarch of the whole operation because when she noticed me, everyone else did as well.

"Who is this then, Dorian?" The woman gestured to me with a wooden ladle. Pretty soon I was surrounded by a hoard of people—I wasn't sure where they had come from. There were far more people than I saw walking around before. I backed away from the encircling mass of bodies, successfully backing right into Dorian, the rude man that saved me from the dragon's fire. He pushed me off him—not quite roughly—and walked around me to greet the woman.

"I found her by the cave. She was just standing there. Said she had a friend, but there was no trace of anyone else. I suspect the dragon got whoever they were,” he explained as he kissed the woman on the cheek—a gesture of familial affection. My heart sank at his statement. I didn't think the Doctor could possibly be dead—he just couldn't be.

"An orphan like you," the woman responded to Dorian. Her head cocked to the side as she took a moment of contemplation. "She can stay the night, but in the morning we're taking her to Camelot so she can be sold as a servant." I had to catch my breath. Panic began to creep over the edges of my vision—things becoming blurry around me. I sat down on a log with a heavy thump. "Unless one of you lot want to marry her. Though she is a scrawny thing." I looked down at myself, my hands fisting in the skirt of my dress.

The curious people went back to work after that—though a few of the men stayed around. Dorian stood a little ways off, carving some branch and keeping a watchful eye.

"So, where are you from?" The men surrounded me and I felt slightly uncomfortable. They were encircling me like wolves around a lamb. Though disorientation consumed me, I made sure to cling to my wit as my only saving grace. I was in this predicament before—alone in a strange time, abandoned with no hope of rescuing from the Doctor—I could adapt again.

"Somewhere far away." I smiled, trying to be conversational, but not wanting anything to escalate. They all chuckled and kept asking their questions. If I was lying I would have said that none of them were attractive. In fact, a few of them would be rather nice looking if they cleaned up a little bit. I mean, I didn't want to marry any of them, but if I absolutely had to, I wouldn't mind. I subconsciously grasped at my necklace with Richard's ring.

"What you got there?" It was the first time Dorian had spoken up in the conversation. He sauntered over and grabbed the necklace around my neck. He didn't rip it off, but his gaze stayed fixated on the ring.

"It's an engagement ring. My engagement ring." I grabbed the chain from Dorian's grasp. "Though he's long gone by now." I dropped the ring back down the front of my dress. "I don't see why you'd care.” I crossed my arms and huffed an indignant sigh.

"Well, that little piece of shine could pay for some supplies we need and you wouldn't have to be a servant." He crossed his arms and leaned back against a closer tree as I glared daggers at him.

"I'm not giving this up for the world. Sell me into slavery if you like. I'd rather that." I turned back to the other men, but my gaze was at the ground. "This is the last thing I have of him and nothing is going to take it from me." Silence permeated the air, clattering echoed off in the distance where people continued their chores.

Then one of the men next to me started to ask more questions. I continued to answer in a friendly manner as they got to know me, and I asked my own questions of them.

Eventually, the woman, Marion as I learned her name, decided that my dress was too revealing and took me to change in her tent.

"I used to be a pretty thing like you. Got myself a husband and he loved me,” she told me as she escorted me to a tent standing across the central fire. “He was executed a few years back—wasn't careful enough when going into the kingdom. At least I have my sons and the others that have joined our little troupe." She smiled a sad smile. "But I still have my pretty dresses from back then. You can wear one. You can even keep it. It does me no good." She rummaged around in a trunk in the corner of the tent. I saw some very nice colors ruffled around as she searched. "Here, this one will look mighty nice on you." She smiled and brought out a midnight blue dress. "Never really wore this, it didn't look too good with my coloring." She smiled and helped me change. I was grateful for her help because there was no way to get this done myself. She smiled and helped me pin up my hair so it wouldn't get in the way of anything. Her keen eyes examined me closely. "Why, don't you look gorgeous, my dear. It might be nice to have another woman around here. You might have noticed, we’re quite outnumbered." I smiled and put on the shoes she gave me.

Walking out of the tent, I had to blush. Several pairs of eyes turned to me. The most intense and burning gaze came from the eyes of Dorian. I turned away from him—a blush staining my cheeks—and walked over to a table where Marion was starting to prepare supper for everyone. I helped her cook and prepare with a few of the other women. In helping, I kept my own observation of them, their techniques, and their language—I had to start studying if I was to fit into this time period.

"Dear, could you chop a few logs of wood for the fire? You'll find the logs behind my tent,” Marion asked and I accepted. Picking up the hem of my dress, I walked back behind the tent. Marion called to someone to help me once I had disappeared around the side and found the stacks of wood. I picked up a few logs on the pile and placed them near a stump with the axe embedded in it. I grabbed up the axe and was about to swing for the first log, but a grip above mine on the haft stopped me.

"Surely, you're not going to chop this wood all by yourself?" His amused question caused an immediate response of frustration, my teeth grinding together. I tilted my head back in annoyance and breathed out of my mouth. Dorian simply stood, towering above me with a firm grip on the tool I needed to use and an infuriating smirk on his lips.

"That was the plan, actually." I let go of the handle of the axe and turned to face him. "Why are you such an annoying jerk? I mean, why can't you leave me alone?" I grabbed the axe from him, forcing him to back away or be else risk injury. In two swings, the log cracked in half and with four more swings, the halves were quartered. Pride and annoyance bubbled within me as I examined my ability to perform the task of chopping the wood. "I think I can handle this. Why don't you go bother someone else?" I smiled and expected him to walk away, but he just stood there.

"Marion wants you to marry one of her sons or one of the other single men in the camp,” Dorian stated with an air of determined certainty in his voice. I rolled my eyes and kept chopping wood for the fire. My back turned to him, I could have ignored his presence, if not for the feeling of his gaze glued to my back. He didn't say anything else as I kept working. But when I was finished and about to pick up the wood to bring to the fire, he picked up all the pieces before I could.

I slammed the axe back into the tree stump before following him back into the heart of the campsite. Dorian placed the wood by the fire where Marion cooked the meat for everyone. I had nothing else assigned to me, so I decided that walking around the camp might be a good way to pass the time and clear my head. I walked around the perimeter and found the camp to be actually quite large. Before I could explore further, however, I was called back for the meal I had helped prepare.

We ate—venison, rabbit, roasted root vegetables, and crusty bread—while singing and merriment permeated the air. I couldn't stop laughing for most of it. The food was tough and perhaps overcooked, but it satisfied my hunger and allowed me to get more acquainted with the people I would be staying with for the night. As the meal finished and more wine and ale slid down the group’s throats, the singing really started. They implored me to sing for them, but I didn't know any songs of the time, so I begged silence.

As the sky started to grow darker, I snuck away to continue in my exploration of the forest. I wouldn't go farther than I could see the firelight and I took a cloak as to not get cold.

I walked away and around the camp again, retracing my earlier path. Then I expanded my walking perimeter. The fire still flickered in my periphery, but it was a bit further away and more obscured by the trees.

The snap of a twig somewhere around me startled me from my thoughts. I froze. I had no idea what kind of creatures lurked around this forest. There could be bears or wolves, not to mention the supernatural creatures. I mean, they did have a dragon, who's to say they didn't have griffons or goblins running around hungry for a bite of human flesh? I couldn't move. Fear restricted my movements as instincts took over and adrenaline rushed through me. Another branch snapped and I turned to the direction of the noise. Of course I couldn't see anything in the dark, but that didn't stop me from looking.

I carefully and quietly started back towards the campsite—deliberate in my steps. Trying not to make a noise, I checked behind me every once in a while to make sure that nothing followed. My problem was that I could feel the creature behind me. I just couldn't see it. I felt the thing's eyes on my back—boring into me.

"You look scared." The voice behind me made my bones melt and my body jump what felt like five feet into the air. I should have known it was Dorian from the moment I heard the first twig snap, but with the darkness it was hard to tell what was out in the forest. I turned around, angry and smacked him as hard as I could. He retreated from my arm’s length, so my blow made contact with his shoulder, but I'd like to think my anger still made its point.

"You understand you had me scared stiff? I thought I was going to be attacked by wolves or bears." My furious approach backed him up against a tree. Yet he had the audacity to chuckle at me.

"We don't have any of those around here, just dragons and other creatures." He shuffled around me. I grabbed his shoulder, trying to turn him around—get my fury across. What he had done was terrible, to frighten me so purposefully. I thought I was going to die.

As I was about to say something more, a great rush of wind blew that almost knocked me off my feet. Dorian pulled me to him and he dropped us to the ground—my knees collapsed under his urging and I found my back to the forest floor, cushioned by leaves and dirt. He was on top of me, leaning on his hands, one arm wrapped securely around my waist. I tried pushing him off, but he just looked at me, fear tinting his gaze. Confusion washed over me, but as I looked into the air I saw something I never thought to exist.

Flying above our heads, with the wingspan of a football field, was a dragon. I thought for sure my eyes were playing tricks on me in the dark. But there, right above the tops of the trees flew the giant dragon with its glowing green eyes. In conjunction of the awe I felt at seeing such a creature in existence, was the hyper awareness of Dorian’s body covering mine—his warmth leeching into me, his position one of protection.

As soon as the dragon passed overhead, Dorian stood, watching its retreating form for as long as he could see it. I stood and brushed myself off and tried to hide the blush staining my cheeks.

We walked back into the camp, where everyone started reemerging from their own tents. They all peeked out tentatively before walking out, as if expecting the dragon to make another appearance. Then, as if the moment was broken, they all gathered by the fire and finished what they were doing before.

"Let us hope that no one is hurt on this flight,” Marion sighed into the night, like a well-worn prayer. Everyone looked around at everyone else.

I glimpsed Dorian's face. A hard look set in his eyes. I turned away and walked to the tent where I was told I could sleep. I changed back into my own dress and fell on the straw mattress. It wasn't a great luxury hotel, but I didn't care. I fell asleep and was woken by a great hustle in the morning.

I woke to find a nice crimson dress laid out for me at the bottom of the bed. I struggled in reaching some of the closures, but managed to get the dress on as best I could. I turned to pull on my shoes when Dorian burst into the tent. I turned around to look at him—backing away a step and clutching my heart.

"Some of your ties are wrong." He gestured to the back of the dress where it was tied together. I sighed in exasperation. That alone had taken far too much time for me to accomplish. I slumped down on the bed with a mild pout. Dorian rolled his eyes at me and gestured. "Come here and turn around." I looked up at him, my eyebrow quirked. Did he actually think I would just let him tie up my dress? Well, he was right because I stood after a moment and faced my back to him.

With careful hands, he untied the knots. His hands were gentle and seemed to barely even touch me as he retied the dress. Once he was done, he set his hands on my shoulders. Though, as if scalded by boiling water, he quickly took them away, but kept them hovering over my skin. He traced his fingers on the back of the chain for my necklace.

"Tell me about this ring,” he requested calmly. I grasped it in my hand and sat back on the bed.

"He was a man I met and fell in love with.” I shrugged, not quite knowing why I was disclosing this information. “I had to leave him. And that’s the end of it." A rueful smile crossed my features. "It's in the past and I'm fine with it. I just like to keep the memory alive. Sometimes I'm afraid I might forget him with the life I live." I huffed out a sigh and turned in his direction so we faced one another. "I know I never will with this around my neck." He nodded and held his hand out to me. I accepted and we walked out of the tent.

"I recently lost someone I loved very dearly as well. We were just married and she got taken by an illness." He linked our arms together as we sat down waiting for our morning meal. I tilted my head as I observed him in a new light—he’d felt the pain of losing a loved one, just as I had. Marion walked over to us.

"Dears, a girl had been taken from the kingdom by the dragon,” she solemnly spoke. Dorian looked around the camp, then stood and started rummaging around the campsite. I noticed a few others of the men were doing the same. I turned to Marion.

"What are they doing?" I asked. Marion looked at me. There was fear in her eyes, but it wasn't over the dragon.

"They're going to slay the creature. It has gone too far this time. Taking a child is too much. It has to be stopped." She laid a hand on my head and walked away. I quickly stood. There was no way I was going to miss this.

All of the men put on chainmail and grabbed swords, shields, and axes. It was as though they were going to war—I supposed they were. Fighting a dragon was probably no easy ordeal. I tried to stay out of their way as best I could. A few of them asked for help with some clasps and ties. I did what I could and tried to be useful. By mid-morning they were leaving to fight.

As quickly as I could, I snuck away and followed them. I figured it was a halfway point in the journey when they sat to eat the lunches of bread, cheese, and dried meat we had packed for them. I had a similar one for myself and ate it. Unfortunately, discovery also seemed to be in store for me.

"You just can't stay away from danger can you?" Dorian walked behind the tree I was sitting beneath. Of course, I knew eventually I would have been caught. I just thought it would be closer to the dragon's cave. "I knew you were following us since we left the camp." I sighed. I knew he would ask me to go back. "You can follow as long as you don't get into danger." He chuckled and walked back to the other men. I gaped in shock at his retreating figure and followed as they walked on toward the cave.

The TARDIS came into view and I knew we had arrived. Tears sprung in my eyes at seeing such a familiar sight. I ran over to it and used my key to open the door. I tossed in the clothes I had worn and the blue dress. There was no way I was giving that up. I took the sonic screwdriver that I kept with me and ventured out.

The men had already ventured into the cave. Fire burst out of the opening, so I tread carefully as I entered. The noises of battle echoed off the walls. I listened and it seemed that there were many people being wounded in the process—yelps and grunts of pain. I made it to the part of the cave that expanded to a high ceiling and open space and sighed in relief when I saw that no one looked dead, or mortally injured, just unable to go on fighting. They all lay on the floor, groaning in pain. The dragon trudged away from them.

I picked up a sword and a shield, ready to defend myself should the dragon turn and start to attack me. A few of the men got up to start taking their kinsmen out of the cavern.

"Its fine, I've got everything taken care of here," I whispered and gestured to them so that they would move quicker. Unfortunately, this caught the dragon's attention. I turned to face the creature and steadied my feet. The dragon blew a stream of fire and I held up the shield to protect myself as I dodged.

This would be easy, as long as I could kill a living creature. It went against everything I stood for—but it was for the best, right? My stomach roiled at the thought. My resolve strengthened, however, as the dragon tried to grab me in its teeth. There was no way I was going to become some dragon's meal. I jabbed at it with the sword in my hand and it backed away.

We continued our fight as I saw Dorian unconscious off to the side against the wall. I climbed to higher ground and stood face to face with the dragon. A flicker of something passed through its eyes. It fell to the ground and I ran to stand atop it, prepared to end its life—my blade held high and shaking. As I looked into its eyes, I realized that I couldn't. Instead my hand lowered the weapon, dropping it with a clatter, the noise echoed around the cavern. I shook my head with a sigh.

"You're just scared aren't you?" I knelt next to the creature and touched its head. The dragon dropped its gaze, completely defeated.

"Laura Foster, don't hurt her!" The Doctor appeared in an opening of the cave and rushed over. I stood and smiled at him.

"Doctor, where have you been?" I exclaimed as he brought out his sword. I realized he had been living it up in the kingdom. He wore chainmail and period accurate clothing, which I was sure the dragon didn't have on hand.

"I've been looking for you,” he grunted in exasperation, dropping his sword. I snickered into my hand and he placed his hands on his hips. "Where have you been?" He approached my quickly to pull me into his arms. "I'm afraid the dragon thought a little girl was you when she flew out last night. It's all right now. Just got finished taking the girl back to her family." I nodded and heard Dorian groan off to the side.

I walked over, dropping my shield in the process. Kneeling beside him, I saw that his legs were deeply wounded. I looked up at the Doctor. Realizing I still had the his sonic screwdriver, I handed it over him and he examined Dorian.

"Doctor, he needs help." I looked more closely at Dorian's wounds. I tore off some of his shirt to stop the bleeding with pressure. "Please, this is important.”

The Doctor stooped down with me and examined his wrist for a pulse. There was a leather bracelet resting there. He seemed perplexed by it, but didn't say anything. Instead he continued in his examination.

"If he stays here, he'll most likely die." The Doctor stood back up and walked away. I would have rushed after him, but instead stayed with Dorian, thinking the Doctor might get something to help. Instead, he came back with the TARDIS. I glared at him as he popped his head out.

"Are you insane? We can't take him into the future." I stood up and stomped over to the door of the TARDIS where the Doctor rested.

"Don't worry, he'll be fine,” he assured me. I sighed and acquiesced, helping the Doctor carry Dorian into the TARDIS. We placed his body on my chair. The Doctor started to pilot the ship and I guessed the engines disturbed Dorian from unconsciousness. He woke suddenly and looked around.

"Now, I never thought I would be here again,” he muttered loud enough for us to hear. I looked over at Dorian, perplexed, but not really paying attention to what he was saying. "Well, Laura, where are we going?"

"We're going to get you better. Aren't you going to ask where you are?" I sauntered over to see him and check his wounds. Dorian hissed and winced in pain as I looked, but didn't ask anything. The Doctor turned to me, pausing in his flying of the TARDIS.

"You won't get questions from him, Laura. He's from the future. He's probably used to things like this. Even has a vortex manipulator—means he travels through time like us,” the Doctor explained. I looked back at Dorian, puzzled.

"Guilty as charged,” he shrugged with a rakish smirk. I glared at him and stormed away, picking up my notebook from my room. I threw my body onto my bed and screamed my frustration into my pillows.

Dorian hobbled into my room as best he could after me. I was sure it caused him pain, but he didn't seem to care that he might bleed to death from exerting himself. He sat down on my bed and I popped up to sit on the chair—just to get away from him.

"You're going to get blood on my bed,” I murmured with a glower in his direction. Dorian looked down at his leg and how the blood seeped through the rags of his makeshift bandages.

"Well, sorry about that. I'm also sorry about not telling you I’m from the future." He tried to smile at me—tried to coax a smile from me. I huffed, crossed my arms, and angled my body away.

But I observed him—still not understanding why he was where he was. I was about to ask him when the Doctor barged in. We had landed at a hospital and the Doctor helped Dorian into a hospital bed. Nurses instantly surrounded him. Dorian would be fine, and we left him there. The Doctor flew us away and I had time to write.

I scribbled on my pages, trying to dispel the unease at leaving Dorian all alone. The margins of my pages doodled with sketches of this mysterious—infuriating, rough, attractive, gentle, grieving—man that I hoped we would see again.


	7. Darkness

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Doctor and Laura run for their lives.

"Run, Laura, Run." The Doctor grabbed my hand. I think this was the fastest I had ever run in my life. "Keep up with us Kalara." I grabbed her hand as we kept going. I didn't have a flashlight, but both of the others did. And I hoped it was enough to get us back to the TARDIS.

The shadows were closing in and the Doctor wouldn't tell me anything. All he would say was to run and not stop. My lungs were burning and there was a pain in my side. Still, the Doctor would not even let me slow down. It was worse than the Weeping Angels and worse than anything we had ever fought before. And the Doctor didn't want to fight. He just wanted to run.

But look at me—I started in the middle. Here's the beginning.

"Oh, Laura, we've been to so many places, but we have yet to go to a beach. Space Florida or Space Hawaii?" The Doctor leaned on the controls, a button away from taking me to the beach.

"Sorry to tell you this, Doctor. I grew up in California not too far from the beach and I never went. I _hate_ the beach." I admitted as the Doctor looked at me confused. I couldn't help but laugh at his reaction. "But let's go to Space Hawaii just so I can see what its like." The Doctor's face brightened and he pressed some buttons. Soon enough, we landed and I grabbed a jacket.

"You can't go out there like that!" The Doctor gestured to my jeans and long sleeved t-shirt. "We're on Space Hawaii. You have to dress cooler than that. You'll melt." He gestured back to my room. I sighed and trekked back.

Looking through my clothes, I found some shorts and a tank top that would do alright in the heat. But I kept on my converse. Knowing the Doctor I would still end up running eventually, even in Space Hawaii. My feet dragged back to the control room and I spun around.

"Is this better, Doctor?" I made a brief gesture down to my outfit. The Doctor approved, so we headed towards the door.

As soon as we stepped outside, I sighed in exasperation. We weren't on a beach at all. We were in the middle of some forest. The Doctor backed up against the TARDIS, leaning on it.

"Well, this isn't right." The Doctor crossed his arms. I couldn't do anything but laugh. He looked back at the TARDIS and at the surrounding area.

"And you made me change into this." A groan escaped my lips. I was cold just standing there. "I think that we should either leave, or I should change back to what I was wearing before." Burying my hands in my pockets for my key, my body turned back toward the TARDIS. The Doctor walked around the perimeter, trying to figure something out.

"I think we should leave,” he muttered. I nodded as the Doctor was lost in thought. He gestured to his ship and I grasped the key and unlocked the door.

Before we could get a foot inside, a group ran towards us. Immediately, they surrounded us—one grabbing the Doctor and one grabbing me—and we were running. The TARDIS doors closed, but in the hustle, the key fell from my hand.

And I had no idea who these people were. They just grabbed us and started to run. For some reason, though, I did not want to stop. I glanced back a couple times to see what was chasing us or why we were running, but all I could see was utter blackness. There were faint outlines of the trees, but most everything was shadowed. When we finally reached a clearing, where the sun shone through, the whole group slowed down and fanned out into a circle around us. The Doctor looked a bit peeved by the whole thing, but I still clung to his side.

"Will someone please tell me what is going on here?" The Doctor looked at each member of the group. None of them responded. I, in turn, looked at each of them really for the first time. Most of them were humans. But the others weren't.

"Doctor?" I turned to him, questioning everything that was going on. He looked to me.

"They're Silurians, Laura. This must be some sort of expedition group?" When one of the members nodded, the Doctor carried on. "And this question is important, Laura, and I want you to give me an honest answer." I nodded and looked into the Doctor's eyes. "Are you afraid of the dark?"

For a second, I didn't know how to exactly answer his question.

"It petrifies me,” I finally responded. The Doctor grabbed me into a hug. And I felt it. The Doctor was really scared, not just for me, though. The Doctor was scared for everyone. I hugged him back. "Doctor," I tried to sound reassuring. "We're going to be alright. We'll make it back to the TARDIS and we can fly away and we'll just be fine." I smiled and pulled away from the hug and looked again at the people around me. "You said the aliens were called Silurians?"

One of them turned towards me. A look of offense washed over their face from what I said. She—for her figure appeared feminine—advanced towards me and I tried to stand my ground, observing her more closely. The name Silurian—it rang a faint bell in the back of my head.

"Wait, isn't there a period in Earth history called the Silurian period. Something about reptilian ancestors to modern humans or something,” I questioned. It dawned on me as I said it. "Silurians—you're from Earth." I let out an incredulous chuckle as she tilted her head. "You must hate us." I smiled at her. "Geez, you guys look cool. Too bad we evolved." A small smile crept onto her face.

"Kalara." She held out her hand for me to shake.

"Laura." I nodded in return and took her hand. It was scaled, which I was expecting, but nonetheless, it still gave me a bit of a shock to feel the texture on my hand.

"Not all apes are so horrid, I suppose." She took her hand away and turned to the rest of the group. She addressed them. "Did we lose anyone?" I looked around the circle, counting each member. There was the Doctor and I as well as Kalara's group of ten; four Silurians and six humans.

"There are two missing." The response came back and Kalara cursed under her breath. The Doctor began to inquire as to what was going on. I tuned out their conversation and scanned around the surrounding forest. There were brief moments when I could swear I saw the shadows get darker and move, but then I looked back and there was nothing unique. The darkness was just playing tricks on my eyes. The Doctor placed his hand on my shoulder. I turned to see an unmasked look of concern in his eyes.

"I'm so sorry to have brought you here,” he muttered. I was unsure why the Doctor was so scared for us. I mean, the Weeping Angels were bad and the Daleks were bad, but the Doctor handled them. The Doctor always said that the monsters were afraid of him. It was how the universe worked. "There are things here that are going to try to kill us and they might succeed."

I backed away from the Doctor, not really understanding what he was saying. Though I knew I couldn't question him. The look in his eyes caused dread to grow in my stomach. He had seen whatever was after us before and it didn’t end well.

"Doctor, what's going to try and kill us?" I asked, the words whispered. The Doctor took my hand in his and pulled me away from the outer circle. The Silurian regraded us, strapped with their weapons. The humans ignored us, looking as terrified as I felt.

"I think telling you would be worse than keeping you in the dark,” the Doctor admitted. I looked away and sighed in mild frustration. "But I will tell you this; I can't fight them, River can't fight them, no one can fight them. When you know they're there, you just run."

Kalara walked over to us again, speaking clearly, "The daylight is dimming and the shadows are taking over this clearing, we are preparing to run again so that we can make it to my ship and get out of here." She held out her hand towards me. I looked down at her hand and then back at her face. "The Doctor can handle himself. I'm making you my responsibility." She reached out and grabbed my hand.

"I'm sure the Doctor can take care of me." I looked down at her hand holding mine, a blush rose on my cheeks. "Besides, I can take care of myself." She glanced back at me and chuckled without mirth.

"You don't realize what we're running from." She gripped my hand tighter and she called to everyone else. "Is everyone ready?" I saw everyone around the circle nod. Even the Doctor glanced at me and nodded reassuringly. I sighed and braced myself.

Then we were off running and I felt as though I should have trained for a marathon. We didn't stop and Kalara made sure I kept up and that we were in the middle of the pack. The Doctor kept pace right next to me the entire way.

We stopped again when we could see the sunlight. But there were more people missing around the edges. Bile started to bubble and rise up my throat as I realized our party kept shrinking. But we kept running and running and only stopping in the light.

The shadows kept following us. Sometimes they got closer and we couldn't stop except to take a breath and pick a new direction. Other stops we had time to take a breath and a head count. And I had the sneaking suspicion we were lost amidst all these trees.

"At this rate, we shall all be gone before my ship comes into sight,” Kalara sighed. I sank to the floor, there were only four of us left—me, Kalara, the Doctor, and another human. But she was ready to give up.

"We're lost." I turned to the Doctor. My state of mind the same as the Silurian’s. I wanted to give up. I didn't want to carry on running. In fact, I was pretty sure I couldn't—my legs were already jelly. The Doctor looked over at me.

"You know we can't just give up. We have to keep pushing forward." The Doctor pulled out a flashlight from the pocket of the only other human left. Kalara pulled out hers.

"Alright, we must move then before it turns dark and we are all taken,” Kalara agreed. I looked at the remains of the group. The Doctor took my hand, as did Kalara, pulling me up from the floor. I turned back to the human, a man—an exhausted smile twitching at the corners of my lips.

Between one blink and the next, he disappeared—only bones remained, crumpling to the ground. A scream ripped its way out of my throat before I could stop it. The Doctor grabbed me and pulled me along. My hand still gripped Kalara's, but it was as though they were dragging me along. I couldn't tear my eyes away from the spot where the man was just standing. I had just smiled at him and then he was a pile of bones.

"Run, Laura, Run!" The Doctor pulled me along. I snapped my head away and really started to run. The Doctor turned back to Kalara. "Keep up with us Kalara." They both clicked on their flashlights as we kept running. It seemed to make the shadows disperse if only for a short amount of time. When they started to flicker, I cried out in dismay, but we kept moving. I just hoped we could get back to the TARDIS. I was sure that was where the Doctor was leading us.

With the flashlights flickering, the darkness kept getting closer and closer. I wanted to know how that man was flesh and bone one second, and then just bone the next. Yet, I knew the Doctor wouldn't answer any questions I had. I couldn’t even ask them in my state—with puffing breaths and barely enough mental faculty to keep my limbs moving. So we just kept running. This time there was no stopping because there was no sunlight or break in the shadows around us, except for the flashlight ray that kept us moving forward.

Eventually, a familiar outline came into view. In the distance, there was the TARDIS. I smiled and kept running. There was a burst of energy and the three of us ran the last leg of our journey faster than before—with salvation before us.

We headed right for the TARDIS. The Doctor snapped and the door opened, but I realized I still needed my key. It had fallen when I was initially dragged away. I was sure it was right in front. My feet slowed and I bent to pick it up.

"Laura, just leave it,” the Doctor called back to me. I shook my head—stubborn and determined to find it. It would only take a second in order to scoop up the key. A glint a little off to the left caught my attention. I ran to grab it and by the time I got to pick it up, all around me was darkness. It was circling around me—predators separating the prey from the herd. "Laura, where are you? Laura Foster!" I could hear the Doctor through the darkness, but I couldn't see him. I couldn't pinpoint where the voice was coming from. Then Kalara’s voice broke through.

"Hold on, the Doctor is going to try to help. He's getting something from inside." Apparently, the darkness was only concerned with me—playing with me. It started to close in on me from one side. I tried to scoot away from it, but the circle around me was small. I knew that in seconds I would end just like that man—a pile of bones falling to the forest floor.

"If the Doctor is going to do something, could he please do it now?" I tried to stay calm as the darkness kept getting closer, but I knew my plea rose an octave out of panic.

A sudden brightness blinded me, but also caused all the darkness to retreat. I smiled and ran towards the light. Kalara and the Doctor grabbed me and we were in the TARDIS.

The Doctor jumped up and made sure we were flying far away from the forest. My body fell to the floor, exhausted. I didn't even try to get away from the door or try to do anything, except lie on the floor greedily gulping air into my lungs. My legs splayed out from me, completely useless.

Tomorrow I would be sore and would probably sleep for most of the day. But the engine sounds were a little comfort that I took a moment to enjoy. Seeing as how I almost got devoured by shadows, I was supremely happy to be alive.

"Space Hawaii. And this time, I'm sure we're there." The Doctor walked over and stood over me. "Are you coming, Laura Foster?" I smiled and though it was hard, I took the hand he offered me and got up. My legs were wobbly and I could hardly stand, but the Doctor supported me as we walked out onto a bright, sunny tropical beach. The warm light of the shining sun soothed me as we walked.

"This sun is just what the doctor ordered." Kalara smiled and threw out a blanket. The Doctor chuckled, pulled out a chair and let me sit down. He walked back into the TARDIS as Kalara basked in the sun and I watched the constant undulation of the impossibly blue ocean waves.

"We're going to have a proper picnic today." The Doctor emerged from the TARDIS with a picnic basket and a larger blanket. I looked at him and had to laugh. He was wearing his button up shirt, suspenders and bowtie, forgoing his jacket. But the silliest part of his outfit was his pants, or rather, the shorts he chose to wear.

"Sometimes, Doctor, you style just reminds me how alien you really are,” I snarked with light-hearted fondness. The Doctor smiled and spread out the blanket.

The day passed as we relaxed at the beach. There was no one else to intrude on our time—the shore empty apart from our party. The meal the Doctor provided as a picnic lunch was surprisingly edible. He had made sandwiches and there was some alien fruit, and plenty of water. Kalara was content just bathing in the sun, but the Doctor encouraged me to jump into the waves with him with consistent pestering until I relented. Of course, we were fully soaked in our regular clothes.

I was perfectly content with our day at the beach, despite my normal abhorrence for the locale. My cheeks hurt from smiling and laughing by the end of the day—most of the day’s events forgotten for a while. When it got dark, we got back in the TARDIS and flew away. Kalara asked to be dropped off somewhere. I didn't really know where we left her—I assumed it was her home. She told us to call her should we need any help. But she bid us goodbye and it was just me and the Doctor in the TARDIS again.

The Doctor stood in the control room, taking us somewhere new and exciting. He asked me for suggestions.

"Somewhere bright and sunny and nowhere near any type of forest," I replied, seriously as exhaustion crept back into my bones. I had seen too many forests, each with its own danger, and I didn't want to go anywhere near one for a while.

"Bright and sunny it is." The Doctor turned back to the controls. I smiled and let out a yawn. The Doctor turned to me. "You had better get to sleep." My head nodded as I walked back to my room. But sleep would not drag me under. My lights shone bright as I sat up writing until the Doctor ventured into my room. "You can't sleep." It wasn't a question, just a statement of fact.

"I can't bring myself to turn off the lights." I played with my pen in my hands. The Doctor came over and sat across from me on my bed. "Every time I close my eyes, I just see shadows chasing me. I can't—"

"Laura," The Doctor took my hands in his. "The things in the forest. They're called Vashta Nerada. There were thousands of them, but we got away. They mostly live in forests—though there is a colony on a distant library planet. There aren't any in your room." I nodded feeling silly and childish. "Are you going to be alright?"

"Yeah, I guess I will be." The muscles in my cheeks twitched as I attempted to smile. The Doctor stared into my eyes, assessing me. He stood quickly and smiled down at me.

"Alright." The Doctor grabbed a pillow from behind me and a couple blankets from the base of my bed. My brow furrowed as I looked at the Doctor questioningly. He seemed to remember something and grabbed a cheetah stuffed animal from atop the dresser in my room. "Come on then." With the pile of pillows and such in his arms, I followed the Doctor out of my room and back to the control room. "I know that there's a room in the TARDIS somewhere where there are hundreds of pillow forts, but I think that building them is the fun part."

He dropped all the pillows and blankets on the ground and started to build. He smiled the whole time and I helped him.

As soon as our fort was built—spanning around my chair and the console—we crawled inside. I grabbed my stuffed animal and we sat there, the whole time talking and giggling like schoolgirls at a slumber party. The Doctor got me to take my mind off the shadows and the Vashta Nerada and eventually, I got tired and felt myself drifting off to sleep.

"It's alright," the Doctor assured. "I won't let anything harm you. You'll be fine. I'll be right here while you sleep."

I lay down and clutched my stuffed cheetah to my chest. I hadn't slept with the stuffed toy for such a long time. It was the last reminder of my home in California that I had with me. It was something that always brought me comfort. I felt safe with it in my arms and with the Doctor sitting next to me, occasionally pressing some buttons on the console. It was easy to sleep with the both of them near.

The Doctor brushed some stray hairs from my face as I teetered on the edge of consciousness. When I woke, the Doctor was in the same place, snoring softly. I yawned and stretched, too sore and tired to care much about the shadows or the darkness. The Doctor would always protect me, from anything. And I fell back asleep, dreaming of my reliable teddy bear—the Doctor—right by my side.


	8. Diadem

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Laura and the Doctor find themselves immersed in political intrigue when they visit an alien market.

I've always wanted to be a princess—since watching my first Disney movie. I wanted to be like Snow White or Sleeping Beauty or Cinderella. For the longest time, I was _convinced_ I was a princess. Not even my parents could persuade me otherwise. They insisted I wasn't, but maybe one day I would grow up to meet my prince charming. I didn't listen to them, until I grew up and realized that I was no princess and never would be.

Then I stumbled into my sort of prince charming. At least, he was charming enough to spirit me away. As many times as the Doctor tries to tell me that I was special before I met him, I'll stay convinced until the day I die that traveling with him is the most extraordinary thing I've ever done.

I smiled as we hopped from one little shop and booth to the next. We were in some sort of bazaar. I was trying to find some sort of jewelry or trinket—a memento. Nothing too gaudy, just a small pretty bauble that caught my eye.

"How about this, Laura?" The Doctor held some earrings up to his ears and turned towards me. I laughed at how ridiculous he looked.

"No, Doctor, I think they're more your style." I smiled and grabbed a hat resting on the booth’s table. "Perhaps paired with this?" I chuckled as I offered it over. The Doctor grabbed it and secured it on his head.

"I've needed a fez." He smiled and paid the credits it cost. He grabbed my hand and kept us walking around the shops. There were fortune tellers and every shop owner called to us over the market noise trying to attract our attention to peruse their merchandise.

We walked past most of them unless something special caught our gaze. The Doctor and I focused on having a good time, hanging around and exploring the world around us. I paid for a few ear cuffs and some simple earrings at one booth. The lady thanked me profusely and threw a free charm into my bag for good measure. I smiled at her kindness, in awe at the beauty of the pendant. The Doctor marveled as well as we kept walking.

A gurgle growled in my stomach as we passed by stalls of food, the scents of spices drifting on the breeze. I turned to my companion saying, "Doctor, I'm getting hungry." My stomach growled once more to emphasize my statement. The Doctor laughed at me as I clutched my stomach, patting it in hopes that it would quiet down. "It's not funny,” I huffed as a hungry anger nipped at my tone. “You might be some Time Lord who feeds off the energy of the universe, but I need food."

At that moment, an alien woman ran straight into me. She pushed something into my hand, glanced behind herself, and kept running. I kept my hands concealed in my shawl as she ran past and a bulky man covered in tattoos followed after her in pursuit.

"What is this?" I whispered to the Doctor. As soon as they both passed, I brought out my hands. Shock choked my breath as I gazed at the beautiful, glittering tiara in my hands. My mouth gaped, opening and closing like a fish. I was hold a crown—a _crown_ —me, some nobody traveler, was standing there holding a legitimate crown.

"It seems as though someone trusts you with that diadem,” the Doctor muttered as he glanced in the direction of the fleeing woman. I draped my shawl back over the sparkling jewels and precious metal. There was no way it would get stolen from me. The Doctor and I walked around to an uninhabited alleyway where I brought out the crown for closer examination.

"These gems, Doctor, they must be very expensive. Perhaps she stole it." I brought it up to some light to see it glitter. I smiled and part of me wanted to keep it, but if it was stolen, then it had to be returned.

"Oh, that crown wasn't stolen. No, you were given that tiara by the crown princess." The Doctor took the diadem from my hands. I looked over his shoulder as he examined it. He brought it up to his mouth and bit. He pulled it away, rubbing at his teeth with a wry smile, "Yes, this is the real thing." He laughed, but then sobered up. "Well, I wonder who it was she was running from." He looked back to the busy part of the street. "Very strange." His head peeked around the corner.

I turned toward him, but stayed in the shadows of the alley. A prickling at the back of my spine set my shoulders tensing. I turned slowly to see a group of very tall men standing behind me.

“Well, Laura Foster, let's see if we can't find the runaway princess,” the Doctor spoke, not turning to look at me.

Though I heard him, I couldn't respond. A hand gagged me, placed firmly over my mouth and nose. I could hardly breathe and my vision started to go hazy and dull around the edges. My body was hoisted up and quickly carried away from the Doctor down a maze of alleyways and backstreets. Before I could really see where they were taking me, unconsciousness grasped me and pulled me under.

When I awoke again, I was in a large bed with silk sheets. The vaulted ceiling of the room stretched higher than any I had ever seen. Pillows surrounded me as draped fabric accented the shape of the bed.

On shaking legs, I stood and walked out onto the balcony attached to the room. The whole kingdom stretched out in my view. I could see the bazaar and all the people bustling about. I knew, then, that I was in the palace at the top of the hill. Questions started formulating in my brain—why was I in this room, why was I taken off the street, and most concerning, whose room was I in.

My questions didn't go unanswered for long. A woman in a flowing gown walked into the room. I turned to her and her stride broke. She continued to walk forward, more quickly before coming to stand before me. She grabbed my face in her hands. She was alien, but if you just glanced, you could probably mistake her for human. The only difference between her and me were the angular protrusions on her forehead and cheeks. She forced my face one way and then the other.

"Who are you?" Her voice screeched out of her lips and I tried to back away from her. Her grip on my face tightened and I tasted blood in my mouth as my cheeks pressed against my teeth—I couldn't speak though incoherent grunts of struggle puffed past my lips as I tried to pull away. She released my cheeks and grabbed my upper arm in talon-like claws. "Who are you, you insolent little thing? What are you doing here?"

"I was brought here,” I huffed. “A couple of goons captured me and left me here. I blacked out and just woke up." I tried backing away from her, but she just kept me in my place. "My name is Laura and I've been traveling with my friend. We were just visiting the market." My eyes scanned around the room, trying to figure out a way to make her release me.

On the far wall, I caught a glimpse of a painting. The figure reflected that of the woman standing before me—with her claws an angular face. But, unsettlingly, there was also an uncanny resemblance to the face I saw in the mirror everyday. 

"If you are not the crown princess, then why did you have the sacred diadem?" Her grip tightened. I thought for sure she would puncture holes in my arm. My eyes darted to her grip searching for signs of blood. Shock rocketed down my spine accompanied by indignation.

"A girl ran past me and shoved a tiara into my hands.” I glared at the woman as my hand tried to pry her fingers away. “My friend has it now. He's trying to find the princess." As soon as she released me, I wandered over to look more closely at the portrait on the wall. She followed me with her hands folded behind her back and an unreadable look in her eye.

"Have you ever wanted to be a princess?"

“What kind of question is that?” I asked, crossing my arms. Her insectile leer turned on me and I knew she refused my answer. Her body turned to face me—looming, though she wasn’t that much taller than me. I sighed and responded again, “What girl doesn’t want to be a princess when they grow up?”

The predatory smile spreading across her face led me to take a step back, trying to get away. "Perfect. If she refuses, you will do." She grabbed my arm again in her vice-like talons and started dragging me toward a door to the side of the bed.

"Let me go!” I struggled in her grasp, but I was no match for her strength. She threw my body into a chair in front of a vanity and summoned countless individuals. They poured into the room from God knows where and started poking and prodding my hair and face. A few grabbed dresses and outfits from an adjacent room before holding them up under my chin.

The woman rattled off instructions as other eyes and hands appraised me. “Her face isn’t angular enough. Just use makeup. We don't have time for surgery. Don't forget to accentuate her eyes and pull her hair away from her face. Make her look romantic. And don't forget that her hair should fade to white." The woman strut out of the room and the servants descended like a hoard of stampeding buffalo to complete their work.

My head was swiveled this way and that—turned and forced and yanked—as the people messed with my appearance. With a sigh, I let my mind drift off into my thoughts.

They stuck synthetic protrusions on my face with a tacky substance and blended them in with my skin. They pulled my hair back and scrubbed some sort of dye into the ends. By the time it was over, I looked different, inhuman—just like the portraits in the next room.

I reached up to touch my face, but a hand smacked mine away. A pair of arms whisked me up out of the chair and toward a settee covered in fabric. Hands wrapped me in elegant clothes and then touched up anything that was put askew by their dressing me. The color of the material they clothed me in was the deepest purple I had ever seen. Most disconcerting, though, was the fact that everything fit my frame perfectly. Jarred from the peace of my thoughts, questions started to flood through my mind once again. I turned to one of the stylists dabbing paint onto my face around the horns.

"Why am I being subjected to this?" I asked quietly. The woman looked at me and met my eyes. Her gaze glanced away as though she couldn't keep eye contact with me.

"The crown princess is to be married to the Prince of Clodigar. It is a marriage to end the war between our nations. The queen was upset at having to sacrifice her only daughter, but with you here there will be a great ceremony." The response sunk into my bone. One word stuck out more than the others.

"Sacrifice?" The word stuck on my tongue like sand.

The woman chuckled as she answered me. "The ceremony is in a few hours. And the wedding night is right after." She barely contained her laughter as she continued. "The wedding night with a Clodigarian is said to be incredibly gruesome. To think our poor princess would have to suffer through that." She smiled at me. "It is so fortunate that you arrived when you did."

"Gruesome? How so?" I stared at my face in the mirror as the stylist cackled. My gaze dropped. So today was my wedding day—and my wedding night would be my last.

"They say that the men of the Clodigarian race consummate the marriage by ripping the head off their mate and devouring it. The body is saved in a mucus sack and when the male comes to term with the offspring, the young burst from his belly to devour the remainder of the female's body,” she whispered conspiratorially to me—as if we were sharing silly secrets. I felt sick—completely and utterly sick. My knees wobbled beneath me and my head swayed on my neck.

As soon as they deemed me presentable, all the servants left me. On my own, I could contemplate what was happening. There was no way that I was going to marry some alien prince who would devour my head. I liked my head exactly where it was—on my shoulders. I didn't want to die. Especially like that. Plans to escape started formulating in my head. There weren't many opportunities to get away. The goons that brought me here flanked my sides at all times. When I tried to escape by using the restroom—not my best plan—two strong female guards accompanied me.

The woman who decided I should pose as the crown princess, the queen, told me the ceremony would take place at the hour of the planet's sunset. When asked to elaborate on the exact time, I realized I only had a few hours before I was to be wed. I spent some time on the balcony, watched closely by three body guards. There was no way to overpower them and to jump from the balcony would mean certain death.

Eventually, I couldn't be cooped up in the room any longer. I decided that a walk around the castle would make me less stir crazy. The body guards took me through the luxurious palace and I couldn't help but gape in awe at all the beautiful details—the lush decorations and high ceilings.

We arrived in the gardens, where I could roam through exotic flowers and other plants. There was no way to get out, as the walls stretched high into the sky. So instead, I decided to relax in all the beauty around me—try to distract myself from my imminent doom.

In leaning down to smell a particularly beautiful flower, I was accosted by a very strange figure. They grabbed my hands and dragged me away from the eyes of my guards. I turned to see a princely figure standing in front of me. My mouth gaped open, but I could find nothing to say.

"Have you spoken to the queen? Have you told her that by marrying me instead of the Clodigarian prince, you can create a stronger alliance with Kleptiine?" he asked quietly as his hands grasped mine. He pulled me toward his body. I grinned at him, but tried to pull away and release my hands from his grasp. "What is wrong with you?" He pulled me closer, his hands coming to rest on my hips.

Discomfort flooded through me at his proximity, but I stopped struggling as realization dawned like the flicker of a lightbulb—this offer allowed me to escape a deadly wedding night. I looked around for the guards, "I was just about to. If you let me go, I will tell her straight away. Today has just been so strange and busy." He released my hands and I stepped away. He bowed and I did my best rendition of a curtesy. His eyebrow cocked in question and I shrugged—making up an excuse of frazzled nerves.

Retreating from his presence, I requested an audience with the queen straight away.

"There is no way." Her voice echoed in the hall as she sat on a throne. I tried to explain that there was someone else to marry, but the queen wouldn't listen. "This way we can have the best of both. You will marry the Clodigarian prince and my daughter will marry this prince of Kleptiine you speak of. It will all work grandly." I sighed.

"You realize that’s more likely to end in disaster when the Clodigarians find out I am an imposter. And that person chasing after your daughter wasn't one of your palace guards—she will most likely never return here again." I crossed my arms and stepped closer to the queen. The queen's face turned to ash. Her fingers gripped the arms of her throne with white-knuckles.

"I still will not back out of a planned marriage. This will end our war,” she insisted. I slammed my hands on the arms of the throne and took the opportunity to loom over her. The queen was infuriatingly stubborn.

"This marriage will make for a stronger alliance and if the crown princess hears of it, she might come back. Screw the Clodigarians and their brutality. No one wants that—not even you." I backed away as the queen leaned forward. She stood and walked around me. My eyes, full of determination, followed her.

"Then the marriage will change to ensure a better alliance." Her eyes had ice in them and I frozen to the spot. "Either way, there will be a marriage today. You are lucky that the Clodigarians have yet to arrive at the palace." I stormed out of the room. Really, I didn't want to marry either prince, but I figured the one who was so obviously in love would be better than the alternative—I hoped.

I entered my room and fell onto the bed. This whole thing was much more exhausting than I thought a nice stop at a bazaar would be. My mind drifted to thoughts of where the Doctor was and what he was up to. Probably looking for me and the princess all at the same time.

The next time I opened my eyes, I was being escorted out of the room and into a large cathedral-like chapel. The queen placed a tiara on my head. My brow furrowed in confusion as I looked in the mirror.

"It is a fake, but so are you. There will be little consequence to this." She dragged me into position and told me some instructions. I must walk down the aisle and pay attention to the words of the officiator. My head nodded somewhat in a daze as she shoved my body through the doors. I barely caught myself from stumbling down the aisle. Maybe I looked fairly graceful, but that was not how I felt.

Awkward and uncomfortable—that’s how I felt. I didn't want to get married. I just wanted to travel with the Doctor. A rueful smile graced my lips for a second I was getting my wish—finally becoming a princess—but there was no way I was happy about it.

When I finally made it down the long aisle, the same alien from the garden stood waiting for me. His hair slicked back, showing his furry, pointed ears. A tail swished below the tails of his tuxedo coat. His smile lit the room as a pair of fangs flashed in the light. His charcoal skin glowed with happiness. I’m sure my returning smile was not half as bright or joyful.

The officiator started to speak and I paid close attention. It was really like a wedding ceremony I had visited for my cousin, but not entirely the same. Eventually we got to the most important part.

"Speak now, or forever hold your peace,” the officiator proclaimed.

I waited for the Doctor to burst through the doors, the real princess at his side. They would be carrying the tiara and would stop the wedding. I wouldn't be married to anyone and the princess would marry the man she seemed to love and I would be free to leave. The Doctor and I would leave and we would adventure and explore as much of time and space as we could.

"Then the ceremony is complete. I pronounce you the majesties of two nations. May your young be plentiful and your rule be just. You may kiss your princess." The officiator’s words sunk like lead in my bones. The prince before me leaned in and pecked my lips. I pulled away and stepped back.

"Wait, this can't be happening. I thought—" My sentence was cut short. The doors burst open and the Doctor waltzed in.

"I object!" His hand held the hand of the princess. She stood by his side and looked at the officiator and the prince next to me. I ran up to my friend, tear pricking my eyes.

"Doctor, you're too late," I explained. The Doctor pulled me into a hug. Tears welled in my eyes. I looked to the princess. Her watery eyes stared back, disbelieving and darting from me to her love still standing at the alter. I tried to say I was sorry, but I couldn't speak before someone else did.

"Step away from my wife." The prince advanced with his sword drawn. Obviously, he did not notice his true love standing just by the Doctor. "I will gut you, sir." My eyes glanced over my shoulder to see the prince had his sword pointed straight at the Doctor’s head.

"I don't want to be your wife," I cried as I turned to him. "I'm not your princess, she is." I pulled the princess up next to me. Confusion graced the face of the prince as he looked between us, trying to spot the differences. My fingers grasped the protrusions stuck to my face with glue and peeled them away. "I'm so sorry,” I apologized as I took the tiara from atop my head and snapped it in half. Everyone in the room gasped.

"What have you done?" The officiator ran and grabbed the pieces from me. My limp hands didn’t put up any resistance as he pulled the shards of crown away.

"It's a fake. The queen placed it on my head before I entered to walk down the aisle." My defeated, exhausted body sank to the floor. The dress pooled around me. My fingers began to undo my hair and I ripped a piece of cloth from the hem of my dress to wipe away my makeup.

The Doctor’s delighted laughter broke through the silence. "Laura Foster," the Doctor chuckled as he grabbed my hands to help me stand. "You realize you need to study up on alien culture more. If the sacred diadem is fake, the marriage is as well." I cocked my head in confusion, too tired to fully understand what he was saying. "You're not married, Laura." I sighed and thanked whatever higher power decided to watch over me. Relief flooded through me as I hugged the Doctor and a tired smile broke across my lips.

Another marriage—a real one—took place that day. The prince married the princess and the Clodigarian people were so scared of the alliance with Kleptiine, they fled without even landing their ship. It was a happy day.

The Doctor had apparently realized I was missing as soon as I was taken. He went after me only to run headfirst into the crown princess. She was being chased by a head hunter who wanted her dead. Really, he was a radical extremist who didn't want the Clodigarian War to end. They defeated him and ended up being just moments late to the wedding. It had spread around town quickly that the wedding had changed grooms. They had rushed in and that was where I was caught up.

As the Doctor danced with everyone at the wedding reception, I sat out and watched. The crown princess walked over to me, her hands gracefully folded in front of her. Grace exuded from her very pores and I was struck dumb by her poise. There was no way I shared a face with her—no way I would accept someone claiming that after seeing her in person.

"Thanks for all your help. I know you were forced into this, but I realize how stubborn my mother can be on political matters. I don't know how I could ever repay you." She really was a sweet person and I was sure she would make a great queen someday. I reached out and grabbed her hand in a reassuring gesture and insisted it was my pleasure to help her.

Eventually, the Doctor realized that I still hadn't danced with him. He walked over like a guilty toddler, holding his hands out. I sighed and grabbed him—sarcastically treating the situation as an inconvenience. He led me out to the dance floor. An upbeat song played over the speakers, but as soon as we stepped onto the dance floor and turned to each other, a slower song started up.

"I'm not such a good dancer, you know,” I confessed looking at my shoes. The Doctor shrugged and held me close. I tried not to step on his feet, but there was once or twice that I couldn't help myself. I cringed and apologized each time my shoes accidentally crushed his toes.

At the end of the night, the Doctor and I slipped away—through a back door where the TARDIS stood waiting. But we were stopped briefly by the new couple.

"You two are welcome back here any time. You are both heroes and will be considered royalty in our nation. You will be known as a prince and princess of the realm,” the princess enthused, taking each our hands in turn. We thanked them for their hospitality and the great honor they bestowed on us and left. They returned into the palace as the Doctor and I flew away in the TARDIS.

It was a quiet flight, though the Doctor seemed happy and peppy—ready to keep celebrating. I sat in my chair. My body wasn't tired enough to sleep and, lately, I just slept in the control room anyway. The Doctor switched on some music and dragged me out of my chair. We danced together—if you could call it that. I just flailed around to the upbeat music. We laughed and danced all into the night.

By the time I was breathing heavily and ready to rest my tired body, I turned to the Doctor with a smirk in my lips, "I'm not under some spell where I'm going to sleep for one hundred years, right?" The Doctor chuckled and left me to sleep.

With my eyes closed, I dreamt of balls and crowns and fancy dresses. After all, I was a princess now, and I didn't even need to marry a prince. Take that, mom and dad.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Make sure you read chapter 7, I accidentally posted this chapter out of order and had to fix it.


	9. Daisy

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Doctor and River need some time alone, and find someone to keep Laura company.

I’m a big girl—I can admit it. It was lonely on the TARDIS at times. When the Doctor was off with River Song, he would leave me on some interesting planet or other that was perfectly safe—and then they would fly off to have some romantic adventure.

I mean, I didn't want to complain and I agreed to it. Sometimes I went with them and we just separated when we got to the destination, but sometimes I preferred not to go because they spent time at romantic getaways—well, romantic for them, at least—and that was just awkward for someone so incredibly single. Sometimes I even stayed in the TARDIS in some forgotten room away from everything else—rather, everything they were doing.

Like I said, I didn't want to complain, but still, sometimes I got lonely, no matter how much I liked being on my own.

"Darling, you must tell me exactly why you look so stunning today,” River inquired with a playful tug on my hair. I smiled over at River and went back to contemplating which purse to take with my outfit. We had just picked her up from wherever she was—prison, an archeology site, wherever. She and the Doctor were going on a date.

"As always, River, only if you tell me first." Playing with my outfit, I was trying to figure out if I even liked what I was wearing—the jeans and t-shirt clashing together for some reason. The Doctor and River stood chatting with each other around the flight controls.

I returned to my room, swapping shirts and pulling one of my favorites over my head, the floral pattern drifting down my body nicely. My lips smiled as I examined myself in the mirror and grabbed a small backpack to use as a purse.

"What shall we do with our lovely child whilst we're away, sweetie?" River followed the Doctor around the console, correcting his mistakes as he flew the TARDIS. I caught her comment as I walked back into the control room. She smirked over to me as we stopped. My backpack shrugged over my shoulders.

"I'm not a child, River." I stuck my tongue out at her. A sarcastic sigh crossed my lips as I rolled my eyes and she kissed the top of my head.

River had been a friend to me, but part of our relationship was certainly maternal in nature—though also strangely flirtatious—I didn’t question it. And the Doctor was far too goofy to ever be a father figure. So no one would call us a family. But we sure felt like one.

"Oh," The Doctor smiled as we walked to the door. "I've gotten our dear Laura a sitter." I tilted my head in confusion. He walked out the door and I made sure I had my TARDIS key in my pocket. The Doctor and River walked in front of me. When they stopped, I nearly ran into them. I was too busy concentrating on my feet and their shoes to notice the person in front of us. "And here he is." My eyes looked up from the floor.

"Seriously, Doctor? You think that I want to spend a whole day with him?" I gestured to the familiar man in front of me. "Last time we met, he was rude and conceited and—"

"You couldn't stop talking about him for weeks,” River finished my sentence. "My, my sweetie, you must tell me how you pulled this off." She looped her arm in the Doctor's. I rolled my eyes.

"Hello, Dorian,” the Doctor spoke and Dorian turned around towards us, looking confused. "Don't tell me you don't remember us." The Doctor pulled me forward—as if to jog his memory.

I looked into Dorian's eyes. He was genuinely unaware of who we were. I smiled and said with a sigh, "Well, obviously you don't know us."

The Doctor ran his fingers through his hair. "Well, meet my friend Laura, she thinks you're all cool and stuff." The Doctor pushed me.

As my feet stumbled forward, I turned to glare at the Doctor, but River had already whisked him away for their romantic day. Dorian tapped me on my shoulder and I slowly faced him.

"Umm, are you the Laura in this note?" Dorian handed me a crumpled up paper. I immediately recognized the Doctor's handwriting. I sighed and read the note—a couple times because goodness did the Doctor need to work on his penmanship. He pretty much just invited Dorian to spend the day with me and gave him a time and coordinates. "I don't know any Doctor, so I was hoping that if I came, someone could explain it to me." I looked up and smiled apologetically at Dorian. It was obvious in his eyes—he was a lot younger than when I met him in Camelot.

"Right, well, I'm Laura. Laura Dean. And this is going to be a little complicated to explain." My eyes focused on my shoes. "Better just leave it. Maybe one day I'll see you again." I started to walk away, but he quickly grabbed my arm. My gaze caught his, confused. His eyes were so young and I couldn't get over it—the fact that I could even recognize the age there.

"Just because I haven't met you yet, it doesn't mean you have to leave." He smiled down at me—charm oozing off him in waves.

I tilted my head, looking up at his face. My whole day was free of obligation, so I decided to comply. I nodded and Dorian led me away to no specific destination—his hand finding the small of my back, keeping us together. I certainly didn't know where I was walking, but then again, I couldn’t think about anything other than his casual—almost too intimate—touch.

"Where are we anyway?" I asked with a shaky voice, looking over at Dorian, who seemed just as lost as I was. He shrugged—confirming my suspicions.

I couldn't help the laugh that escaped my lips. He looked around for a second, scanning over the heads of the crowd.

"That looks promising." He pointed in the direction of some lights that flashed even in the daylight.

In the distance stood a midway full of people riding the Ferris wheel and other rides and playing games. I nodded and we walked over.

"Get your tickets! Tickets for the Midway! Only four credits! Hurry before they sell out!" The man with a handlebar mustache, straw boater hat and cane shouted at the crowd as people passed him. We walked up to him. And I realized, as I rifled around in my backpack that I had forgotten my credits on the TARDIS.

"Dorian, I have to go back, my credits are in my friend's ship." I pulled away from his arm, but he grabbed my hand.

"Don't worry about it. You can pay me back later." He handed his credits to the man and did not let go of my hand. My cheeks felt warm—getting hotter by the second. The man took out a needle gun thing and took our hands. He shot our hands with the ticket leaving a minor sting.

"Your ticket will last for 24 hours. You may leave and re-enter the park as many times as you like. No outside food or drink. The Midway is not responsible for any injury or illness you may or may not experience as the effect of you time spent here. Enjoy your time at the Midway." The man's voice droned monotone and bland while explaining the fine print—his hate for his job seeping through each syllable—but the next second he went back to barking at people to sell more tickets.

Dorian and I looked at the man curiously until we glanced at each other and muffled our chuckles. We walked over the line and through the veil that separated the midway from the rest of the town. As soon as we were through, it was as though the world instantly transitioned to night. The sky darkened and the lights sparkled.

"You know, this is almost like the Chicago World's Fair in 1893 and 59128." He smiled down at me. "I've been to both. They were amazing, I'm sure we'll enjoy this."

I almost didn't hear anything that he said. I was too amazed by the lights—and the music playing was just so magnificently kitschy. I could barely focus on anything else. My head started feel light on my shoulders. My vision rolled as I felt woozy. My body followed suit as my knees lost the ability to hold my weight.

"Whoa," Dorian's arms reached out and grabbed my waist. "I think the super florescent colored bulbs have given you a little bit of vertigo. Let's go sit down."

"Yeah, pretty lights." I closed my eyes a bit and leaned on Dorian. We sat down on a bench and I placed my head on my lap. "Wow, I am never doing drugs if they're anything like this." I smiled into my knees as my mind tried to right itself. "I guess it's a bit of a shock or something—it’s incredibly overwhelming." With a deep breath, I sat up to gaze at the lights, more adjusted to them.

"Looks like you're better now,” Dorian said, relief in his tone. He stood up and grabbed my waist as I did the same to help keep me upright. It was a little strange to have his hand resting there, but it also felt oddly comfortable.

We strolled around the midway, looking at what the place had to offer. There were arcade games and small rides. A few pavilions and mini boutiques and shops stood around the edges. But the main attraction everyone headed to ride was an incredibly large Ferris wheel. I looked up as far as I could—straining my neck—and still couldn’t see the top.

Dorian gestured to the wheel, I shrugged noncommittally and we got in line. It moved quickly because each car held about 20 people. Dorian and I boarded and were pushed to the side. The whole car was like a large glass bubble—see-through with no sturdy floor, just glass and seemingly empty space.

I hadn't realized it when we entered, but as soon as I did, my heart jumped to my throat. My eyes grew three times their size and my hands started to shake. Immediately after realizing, I turned towards the closing door, but it was already shut and the bubble started moving upwards. I tried to look through the glass in front of me and ignore the emptiness below, but all I saw was the distance between the ground and my feet. Being extremely scared of heights, coupled with the fact that I could see everything around, my mind went into anxiety overdrive.

Out of the corner of my eye, Dorian glanced at me, but I couldn't really look back. I was frozen in fear. Before I understood what was happening, his right arm was around my waist, his left hand was grasping mine, and his head was lowered near my ear.

"I'm sorry that this is so forward, but I won't let you fall." He pulled his head away and I closed my eyes. We went around the wheel once and then the unloading started, which left us at the top of the wheel for a few minutes. Dorian squeezed my hand and slightly bumped me to get my attention. "Just look out for a moment."

My eyes peeked open for a second, but then stayed open a minute longer. Out in the distance, a huge field speckled with patches of white lay not too far away. A small smile flashed across my face before my eyes snapped shut again as the wheel lurched to life and we moved.

As soon as our feet stepped off the wheel, Dorian's arm retreated from my waist, but his hand reached to grasp mine. A crowd formed as we walked—the mass of people gathering and squeezing in from all sides. It was perfectly understandable that he would want to keep me anchored to him. Still my cheeks heated with a blush until I thought my brain might boil.

We walked around for another hour or so taking in the sights and wares, but eventually Dorian decided he wanted to venture off and find the field with the white flowers.

A breeze blew and the lights sparkled around us as we found our way through the midway and out the exit, into the natural sunlight. The field wasn't far off. The breeze blew through tall green grass as the small flowers danced. The field was peaceful and serene—like it was picked out of a fairytale. My knees met the soft earth as I sat down on a patch of grass and pulled one of the daisies out of the ground beside me.

"So, how did you, you know, come here?" I placed the daisy behind my ear and looked over at Dorian who sat a few feet away from me. He ripped up grass and watched as it flew away in the breeze. His eyes did not meet mine as he contemplated his answer for only a second.

"Well I got the note with your name, the coordinates and the time. I just arrived when you and your friends found me." He smiled over at me. I looked back at him, head tilted in confusion.

"But how? You're not some sort of Time Lord. How did you get here? Is it a vortex manipulator or something?" I gestured to his arm where a leather gauntlet sat—the manipulator something vaguely familiar from meeting people on my travels. Dorian looked at his wrist where the device rested.

"Yeah, I'm borrowing it from a friend—well, permanently. How did you know what it was? Not many people know one on sight." He looked at me—intense, inquisitive eyes boring into me. His form scooted closer by a fraction as he waited for my answer.

"I've just seen one before is all." I shrugged and avoided his gaze. Though I did answer his question, the intensity of his gaze did not falter. An awkwardness arose in the silence between us. The breeze continued to blow, but neither of us enjoyed the majesty of the field around us much anymore.

"How do you know who I am?" Dorian broke the silence. His body moved toward me, as he positioned himself to sit right by my side. He loomed over me, intimidating and interrogative.

"Well that's going to be a sort of complicated answer." I grinned briefly over at him—my face contorting in awkward dread. "I mean, timelines and all that junk.” My hands gesticulated in explanation, trying to wipe away his question. My mind wandered back to the forest of Camelot and his attitude back then. “You seem like a nice enough guy. I think when I first met you—I don't know—you were having a bad week or something." I shook my head and looked away from him. “I can tell you that you were older when I met you. I mean, I think I can tell." He chuckled mirthlessly. My eyes flashed to his face. His eyes gazed back at me expectantly.

"Well, I hope I wasn't too bad." He leaned back on his hands. I chewed the inside of my lip, wondering if I should say anything. Apparently he noticed. "I can be a right bastard, so I’m told. Was I incredibly rude to you?"

"Not…incredibly. You were abrasive and not very gentle as you dragged me through the forest." My hands played with themselves as I kneaded them together in my lap. Confusion crossed his face as he tilted his head. "We were in Camelot,” I explained, “and you saved me, then I saved you—from a dragon." My teeth clenched down slightly on my lip to stop myself from talking—hoping I wasn't telling him too much. I didn't want to rip the space time continuum in half or anything. "But you had your moments of being a gentleman and you helped me find the Doctor, my friend."

"Well I hope I can redeem myself, either way." He grabbed the daisy from behind my ear and placed it behind his. His fingers plucked a new daisy from the grass and placed it in my hair. I laughed and shook my head at his antics, charmed and confused by them. He smirked over at me—cheeky and unapologetic.

"So, how does a vortex manipulator work exactly?" My hand encircled his wrist and brought the buttons close for my examination. "Do you just type in where you want to go or something?" I could feel Dorian's eyes staring at me as I examined his device.

"Sort of. It compresses all time and space so you just sort of pop from one place to another." He took away his wrist. "Do you want to try it?" My head shook in a firm denial.

"No, thank you. Popping from one place to another without any protection seems dangerous and vaguely painful.” My hands rubbed up and down my arm as I fidgeted. “Plus, I have to stay around here so that the Doctor can find me when he's ready to leave." My eyes looked over the field, catching Dorian’s crestfallen expression as he nodded his head in understanding.

"Maybe some other time,” he muttered with the slightest trace of hope.

"If there is another time, you've got it,” I accepted, reaching over to clasp his hand. His face dropped even more at my words. I replayed them in my head, trying to figure out why. I stuttered over a few sounds, wanting to fix the moment I broke. "I mean,” I started, “I would love to see you again, but the Doctor and I are everywhere. We go from one place to another so quickly."

Dorian surprised me as he moved quick as a cobra. His fingers grabbed my chin and tilted my face towards his.

"Then I'll just go searching for you." His breath caressed my face with a pleasant warmth. My cheeks blushed bright red as he kept his eyes on mine. The intensity within kept me melted to the spot. My gaze dropped from his, trying to scrounge around my mind for some way to respond. He continued before I could, "I’m a simple man. I'd be a fool if I only let myself meet you twice in this life. I can see you, what you’re trying to hide behind, but there’s still so much more. It’s inexplicable, this need to know you—everything about you. Please tell me you feel it too?" He tilted my head so our eyes met and I nodded with the minutest of movements, my cheeks hot enough to cook an egg. My fingers fidgeted and played with the hem of my clothes as my mind scrambled and tried to ground itself. His brilliant smile shone back at me—brighter than the sunshine, and sweeter than the fragrance of the flowers.

He had only just met me, yet he wanted to know everything about me. It didn't make sense in my mind. And yet he was leaning towards me and I was completely comfortable with the idea of kissing him—but something drew me back. I pulled my head from his soft grip and redirected my lips to push a sweet kiss on his stubbled cheek. My lips stayed planted there a moment longer than I anticipated as I couldn’t quite bring myself to withdraw. My nose brushed along his cheek as I sat back. A heavy sigh blew from Dorian’s lips as his hand caressed my cheek.

For a moment that stretched to eternity, we sat gazing at each other—attempting to gather our thoughts, but caught in a syrupy haze.

"I want to get to know you as well,” I confessed as my body finally listened and began to stand. "You might see me in the future or you might not." I started to back away, keeping our eyes linked. He stood as well, following after my steps. He grabbed my hand and pulled me toward him. My body had no choice but to concede and fall into his embrace. "Either way, I want you to know that, though I want to kiss you, I won’t."

"Why not?” he questioned as his arm wrapped around my waist. I shrugged. He did not attempt again to brush his lips against mine. Though, with his face so close, it was all I could think about.

“We’ve had a lovely day. And you just met me,” I responded half-heartedly.

“You’re right. I can wait for you." He smiled and squeezed me tight before relinquishing his hold and taking a step away. I had to stop my feet from taking the step back into his warmth. "Now, since you mentioned it, let me tell you about myself.” He tilted his face to the sky for a moment, taking in the sun and thinking of what he would say. “You know my name. I was born in the 51st century on a faraway planet to my mother and father. My whole family is human except this one uncle that we don’t talk about." He chuckled a bit. "There was an alien invasion and I became an orphan at fourteen. Everything after that is mostly unimportant. I acquired a vortex manipulator and have been traveling around ever since." He tilted his head, playful smirk on his lips. "Is there anything else you would like to know?"

I stood silent, trying to think of questions to ask. The breeze blew and the sun shone. Peace and serenity surrounded us, but energy coursed through my veins, buzzing with curiosity.

The list of things I wished to know about him stretched infinitely—what were his parents like? What was his favorite color, animal, author? Did he have any friends? What were they like? What happened to him right after he became an orphan? Where was he going to go after I left today?

But I didn't ask. I wanted this moment to go on forever. Any questions I asked would disrupt the quiet happiness I had found. Just standing and staring, not running or fighting. Thoughts of the Doctor popped into my head.

As if called by my mere thoughts, the TARDIS engines sounded and the brilliant blue box appeared a few yards before us. Dorian grabbed my hand and pulled me back toward him. My feet took a step in his direction before the door opened and the Doctor popped his head out.

"Are you ready to go, Laura?" he asked with a goofy grin on his face. I turned to my friend and reluctantly nodded. The Doctor disappeared back into the box, the door softly clicking shut. My hand slowly withdrew from Dorian’s as I retreated toward the TARDIS. A thought popped in my head.

"Before I go, I just have one more question,” I said as I kept stepping back. Dorian smirked as he advanced towards the TARDIS. "Your last name? I never found that out." The TARDIS door pressed against my back. I opened it behind me and stepped one foot inside. I froze there, waiting for his answer.

"My last name is—” Before he could finish, River pulled me inside and closed the door. I gawked at her. She simply shrugged. I squawked out her name indignation.

"It isn't safe for you to be half outside the TARDIS as it takes off. Trust me, I've seen things." River smiled, patted my head patronizingly, and went to her usual task of helping the Doctor fly the TARDIS.

I huffed like a petulant child and grabbed all the blankets and pillows from the control room, walking to my bedroom.

The lights flicked to life as I dropped everything in my doorway. My bed greeted me as I lay down and relaxed into it. I rolled to the side and grabbed my notebook, flipping through the pages and beginning to write.

The Doctor entered a while later—actually, he danced in with a goofy grin plastered on his face. I laughed at his expression as he threw himself on my chair.

"How was your date?" I teased, curling my legs under my body and leaning forward, eager to hear about it.

"You know me and River,” he shrugged. “We saw you and Dorian at the midway. Not too fond of heights are you?" The Doctor smiled at me. I tucked a loose strand of hair behind my ear as I avoided his gaze. "It was good the two of you got out of there when you did. Turns out, the carnival barker selling tickets snapped and programmed all the robots to attack patrons. Of course River and I fixed it." He smiled all too proud of himself.

"Well, that sounds exciting. Getting your blood pumping." I smirked and closed my notebook.

"That wasn't even half of it." He reminisced for a second, then ran a hand through his hair, getting uncomfortable as he snapped back to reality. "Anyways, how was your date?"

I shook my head and scoffed, "Doctor, I didn't go on a date. He didn't even know who I was, remember?" The Doctor leaned forward in his chair.

"Of course he didn't know who you were. He had never met you before.” The Doctor rolled his eyes at me. “You didn't kiss him, did you?" His face scrunched up, right around his nose in suspicion and a slight hint of disgust. "I mean, it's all well and good that he finally met you, but please tell me you took it slowly." I rolled my eyes and strolled out of my room. The Doctor followed as I walked into the console room.

"You should teach me how to fly her,” I intoned, changing the subject. I brushed my fingertips over a few of the buttons. Clutching my notebook in my other hand, I traced my fingers along the controls, gently caressing the buttons and levers. "I mean I've spent so much time in the TARDIS already. Shouldn't I know how to fly her—at least a little bit?" The Doctor observed me for a second before smiling.

"You've got a flower in your hair." His hand reached up to pluck the daisy from behind my ear.

"Yes, I do." I smiled and grabbed the flower, placing it delicately between the pages of my notebook—hoping it would dry out and flatten so I could make it a bookmark. I placed it on my chair and sidled up next to the Doctor. "So how do you fly this thing?"

"How about I just tell you what to push, pull, and smack?" he asked.

My fingers danced in excitement as I awaited his first instructions. A smile spread across my face as I did what he told me—feeling useful, valuable. The Doctor made me dance with him as I did it. We bobbed, weaved, and slid around each other in a zany waltz as the TARDIS took us to our next destination. Eventually I spoke up once we had established a flow of movement, answering the Doctor's previous question.

"I didn't kiss Dorian, by the way. Just his cheek, so it doesn't count.” My eyes looked to my friend to see his reaction. The Doctor made a phony retching noise in disgust. My tongue stuck out in his direction before I turned back to the controls.

I didn't mention that Dorian would find us again, eventually. The Doctor probably already knew. After all, Dorian was looking for me, his kiss, and his four credits.


	10. Drink Me

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Laura drinks something on an alien planet and it doesn’t agree with her. Enter a few new (and old) friends.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warning: This chapter deals with our heroine, Laura, forcibly coerced into drinking an alien drink that is drugged for the purpose of her being kidnapped and sold. That does not happen, but she does drink the substance and have hallucinations. If this upsets you, you can skip this chapter to the end note and I’ll put the information that will apply to future chapters.

The Doctor and I had been together in the TARDIS for a while. We kept going—traveling around to different places, each one as new and brilliant and exciting as the last. It felt great to travel and to know I was always safe. Our adventures numbered around 28—or perhaps more. I had a hard time keeping up with every twist and turn our escapades took.

We explored a city on an alien planet that looked like they did in the science fiction movies—everything was silver and high tech looking, sterile almost. I felt like I couldn't touch anything for fear of an electric ray shooting from a wall to zap me. The city was a sight to behold, but I didn't exactly know why we were here.

"Doctor, what are we going to do?" I grabbed his arm as we walked through the city. My fingers absentmindedly played with my necklace as the Doctor led me to a bar.

"Well, right now, we're going here because I'm thirsty and I need to see someone." He smiled down at me and opened a door in front of us.

Loud music sounded from the walls and I had to adjust to the lighting. It was bright but dark at the same time. My eyes pulsed in my skull and I didn't know what to do about it. The Doctor sat me in a booth off in the corner as I closed my eyes and rubbed my forehead. He backed up a step when I scooted over so he could sit next to me.

"Now don't drink anything." He shook his finger at me as if I were a child. Of course, I didn't point out that he was the most childish 1100 year old I had ever met. A wry smile graced my lips as I shook my head and he walked away to speak with some large blue man sitting in a back room. I wasn't going to pretend like I wasn't confused, but I just let the Doctor do what he needed to do.

My notebook sat on my bedside table back in the TARDIS, so I couldn't write anything to pass the time. Stuck, sitting at a table while the Doctor did his business, I waited patiently, bringing out my phone to catch up with some ‘real world’ events.

I huffed a breath as mild boredom crept in. The Doctor didn't even tell me what his business was—just that he had to do it. Apparently, I wasn't allowed to be a part of the whole process of negotiation, or whatever was going on in that back room.

"Hello, little miss, would you like a drink?" A waiter walked up and smiled at me with sharp pointy teeth, purple skin, and tentacles for arms. In response, I smiled politely and declined, stating that I was waiting for a friend that would be coming back any second. He shrugged and walked away. I kept sitting there, minding my own business and alien watching.

A man sat at the bar—an actual human—with brown hair and a devilish smirk. It seemed he noticed me as well. I turned my face away, but my eyes kept glancing over at him. My fingers pulled on my leggings, getting a bit nervous and snapping the material against my thighs. To say he was handsome would be an understatement, and he stood, gaze still locked on me. I could only guess why he was going to come over. Though someone else got to me first and blocked him from my line of sight.

"Hey, little lady, how about you try this?" the gravelly voice hissed. A glass was placed before me as a blobby alien looked down at me. His face scowled menacingly and a lump formed in my throat.

"Um, I'm sorry,” I stated, confusion and refusal lacing my tone, “I'm not supposed to drink anything, thanks." My hand felt the cool condensation on the outside of the glass as I pushed it away. My gaze tried to sweep around the blobby figure to find the back room and the Doctor. I had no such luck. But the alien seemed to get angrier and more insistent when I refused—his scowl deepening in slime.

"You're going to have to drink this,” He insisted as he grabbed the cup from the table and placed it back before me. From inside his form, he pulled a weapon—or that was what I assumed, never having seen something like it before. My hand grasped around the cup hesitantly. "Drink it all down." He guided the cup to my lips with his weapon.

"What will it do to me?" I asked, looking down at the green fizzing liquid as a menacing smile formed on the alien's face. I didn't like his expression and felt my stomach plummet to the bottom of my gut.

"Well, little lady, you'll just have to find out." His weapon lifted the cup right in front of my lips. His hand retreated, but kept his ray gun—for that’s what it looked like, I realized—pointed at me as I reluctantly took a sip of the liquid. Surprise colored my features when I realized it didn't taste like anything. Looking back up at the alien, whose patience wore thin, I downed the rest of the drink in one gulp. "There you go, enjoy your ride, but stay put." The Blob chuckled as he slid away. He grabbed the glass and I was once again left alone in an alien bar without the Doctor by my side.

My vision started to go hazy as I sat at the table—the world becoming a vignette before my eyes. I didn't know what was happening, or what I had just ingested, but I knew I had to find the Doctor to figure out what was going on.

I stood on shaky legs, looking around to find my way to the back room. But it seemed as though there were no doors at all in the bar. My feet walked towards the direction I knew the door used to be, but I couldn't find the opening in the wall. My hand ran along smooth wall, my nails scratching across the surface.

Turning back to the rest of the room, I had to blink a few times—rubbing my eyes and shaking some of the haze from my head. There was no one around—no one drinking, smoking, or socializing. Not a soul breathed or stirred in the empty expanse of the bar. I was all alone.

"Please tell me this is not happening. Haven't I been through enough?" I breathed in a panicked whisper, grabbing my face and sinking to the floor, my back against the wall. "No, no, no, no, tell me I'm not alone."

"Of course you're not. Come here, Laura Foster." The Doctor stood before me, his arms out as if he was waiting for me to jump up and hug him. I looked up at him relief coursing through my veins. My shoulders sagged as a sigh escaped my lips, so very thankful he was here before me.

"Doctor," My voice cracked and tears filled my eyes. The emotion washed over me, though I tried to keep it at bay. I pushed myself up from the floor and took a step forward that should have landed me in the Doctor's arms. Instead his foot took a step back. "Doctor what's going on?" I took another step forward, but he took two away. My next three steps forward, the Doctor turned and dashed outside.

I followed after him, finding myself in the open air. My lungs filled with icy wind as I begged him to wait for me. The people that I ran past looked at me as though I were crazy, but I dodged them—determined not to lose sight of the Doctor. Eventually, we came the alley where the TARDIS stood.

"Doctor?" I stepped forward, my feet hesitant to take me any closer. He stood in front of the TARDIS, hand on the door as golden light shone through the small gap. I shuffled a few more steps closer. "Are we leaving now? Is your business done with?"

"You know, Laura, I only take the best. And that's not you anymore." With a look of cold determination I could feel in my bones, he entered the TARDIS and slammed the door. My stomach plummeted to my toes.

I ran over, jiggling the handle and trying to find my way inside, but the door remained locked. "Doctor, please let me in." The engines sounded, drowning out my plea as I backed away, completely shocked that the Doctor was flying away from me with so little explanation.

The TARDIS disappeared before me and I dragged myself away from where I stood. Tears cascaded down my cheeks and dripped from my chin. Left in an unfamiliar place and time with unfamiliar people and aliens, I had no way to get home.

"Miss, are you alright?" My head rolled in the direction of the voice and shock trickled down my spine. My feet backed away before I could utter a sound. I closed my gaping mouth as my eyes rounded. Breath tore in and out of my lungs as I scanned the man up and down. He took a step in my direction.

"R-Richard?" The word grunted out of my mouth—choked off and stuttered. He stood before me, and I couldn't believe my eyes. He was dead. There wasn't a way he could be alive—not here, not now. A hand reached up to clutch in my hair, trying to ground myself. "No," The word tore itself from my throat as I ran as fast as I could away from the impersonator of a man I had once loved.

My feet slowed a distance away as I looked at my surroundings. I couldn't make out a word of the gibberish written on the signs and streets. I stopped on a corner—air pushing through my lungs as I tried to take a moment to think. My thoughts snapped back to the bar—where this all started. Maybe the waiter would be willing to help me. He had seemed nice enough.

"Miss?" A hand came down on my shoulder. I jumped and turned towards the familiar voice. A smile broke across my face and a laugh burst through my lips. My hand came up to wipe away the snot and tears.

"Dorian?" I said as his eyes glinted back at me. Just like the Doctor, he backed away a step. "The Doctor's left me. Can you take me home?" I stepped forward and he shuffled back. The prickling fear of so many people doing the same thing tickled the top of my spine. That realization, however, didn't stop my next step forward.

"Look, I think you need to lay down, Laura. Perhaps the Doctor just doesn't want you anymore." And with his sentence, I blinked and Dorian vanished into thin air. My eyes searched for him, but there was no one—I was alone once more.

Down the road, a street lamp flickered. The bulb went dark and blackness took its place. The next street lamp closer to me flickered and went out just the same. Fear seized my chest. My heart pumped so hard I thought it would beat out of my chest. Bile began to rise in my throat as dread pooled in my stomach.

"Weeping Angels? Vashta Nerada? What else causes lights to flicker?" I looked down at my feet—they weren't moving, though I was trying to run. As if stuck with sticky glue, they would not budge. "Come on, come on," I chanted over and over again, trying to get my legs and feet to run. My hands grasped at my thighs even as I kept my eyes on the flickering lamps.

Looking up at the light above my head, a prayer only formed in my mind before it started to flicker like the rest. With a gulp and a whirring mind, I came to the only conclusion I could. My lips released a sigh of exhaustion and surrender. My knees slammed against the pavement as I fell to the floor. Pain shot up through my bones. I leaned my head against the light pole beside me, completely defeated—even as I shook with suppressed adrenaline. I closed my eyes, and waited for my fate.

"Excuse me."

A hand connected with my shoulder, but I didn't acknowledge it. Exhaustion and apathy held on to me too deeply. The Doctor had left me, Richard had taunted me from beyond the grave, Dorian had vanished, and I was utterly alone.

"You might want to get up now." The voice seemed friendly—or perhaps sympathetic—though the sound was mechanical and monotone. My eyes glanced up and I blanched, falling on my bottom at the sight. "Please, do not be alarmed. I am here to help." The creature stood before me as I took in its appearance.

The alien's skin was gray-ivory with a rough, course, wrinkled texture. Its head peaked in the center with slitted eyes that blinked slowly as it gazed at me. From the place where a mouth should have been, tentacles dangled in slimy tangles. In its hand, a plastic orb lit up when it spoke. The orb connected to a wire which disappeared beneath the tentacles. Its blue jumpsuit showed an omega symbol on the left side. Black boots adorned its feet and it wore black gloves.

"Who are you?" Curiosity saturated my voice, taking place of the fear that initially shook me upon seeing the alien.

"I was designated Ood Omega, and I am here to help." It blinked its eyes and held out its free hand. My shaking fingers grabbed their hand and the ood helped me stand.

My legs began to finally walk properly—though my legs burned from muscle exhaustion. The lights flickered back on and people strolled past all around us. They paid the two of us no mind as we stayed still—as though we didn’t exist at all.

"Ood Omega?" I asked. The ood turned and nodded down at me. "What's happening?”

"Someone was trying to kidnap you in order to sell you off,” they responded. I nodded, letting it sink in as numbness crept through my blood. "I'm taking you back to your friend." My friend? But the Doctor had left me. My head cocked to the side in silent question. "You are drugged and hallucinating. I won't be here when you wake. But I will at least help you as far as I can."

"What do you mean I'm drugged?" I asked as I trailed beside them.

We walked through the city. Transport vehicles zoomed past us and I started to recognize our surroundings slightly more. The ood didn't answer. Instead, it just kept walking as I followed its lead.

I asked another question, their voice helping to calm me and distracting me from my situation. "Omega is the last letter of the Greek alphabet. Is there significance to it being a part of your name?”

"It was the name assigned to me." They kept walking, getting longer in their stride. I matched the ood’s pace, but it wasn't easy. My legs ached—strained and tired after all my running.

"Well, don't you ever want a different name?" I caught a hold of its arm, finding it easier to keep up that way. "I mean, do you have a name that wasn't assigned to you?" It stopped and I came to a halt beside it.

"I need no other name." They looked down at me and gave me a quick pat on my head in an affectionate gesture.

I smiled as a thought popped into my head. "Can I have a name for you—something that I just use?" It was impossible to tell if the ood smiled or approved of the idea from its facial expression. "I mean one that isn't as formal as Ood Omega? If we’re friends and you’re helping me, I would like to give you a nickname—something less stiff." I smiled at him—my most charming smile in hopes of convincing him.

"Alright." The orb slotted into a part of its shirt right under the omega symbol.

We started walking again and I smiled to myself as my mind began to race with ideas for names.

A faint pink glow started to show over the tops of the buildings on the horizon. The sun started to rise, signaling a new day. I stopped Ood Omega for a minute and watched the sun light up the sky. The air grew silent around us as I breathed in the morning breeze. My stillness—if for only the moment—felt nice. My shoulders sagged and my head lolled to the side.

With the Doctor, it was a brilliant life. Everything was fast paced and nothing ever stayed boring. Eyes stayed forward toward the next destination and away from whatever was behind us—things like rainbows and fields of flowers fell by in the periphery. I never complained, but with all the time I spent with the Doctor running, I forgot how remarkable a sunrise could be. 

"So, Oodmund, where are we going now?" Bathed in the rising sun, I smiled. The ood looked at me and, even with the limited expressions, I imagined I could understand its thoughts. "I thought Oodmund might be the special name I have for you." The ood nodded and took the communication ball from its place.

"Oodmund is a very interesting name." We kept walking as the communication ball was replaced to their shirt. I couldn't keep the smile off my face, deliriously happy. Hysterical giggles bubbled in my throat as I tried to discern in which direction we were walking.

As we rounded a corner, my vision started to blur—the vignette I had become accustomed to expanding over more of my vision. My knees wobbled and I couldn't support my weight anymore. I stopped walking and looked to my companion as my body leaned toward a wall.

"What's happening?" I reached to grab Oodmund’s arm, but I couldn't find it. Instead, my body slumped against the wall—beginning to slide down. "I feel so strange. Oodmund?" I blinked to clear my vision but could not and the ood did not respond.

"I told you, you were drugged, Laura. The hallucinations are just starting to wear off. I must go." I tried once more to reach out towards the ood. My hands searched before me, but I couldn't grasp anything solid.

"Wait," I called out, hoping Oodmund would answer me. "What about me? Where are you going? What's going to happen to me?"

"You will be fine. I will see you again. Goodbye." And just like that, the ood was gone—the presence faded around me.

The cadence of my breathing picked up its pace. My vision grew more blurred, but a figure stopped before me.

"Please don't take me." All I could see through my eyes was the rough outline of a man—brown hair glinting in the sun. I dared not to hope. "Doctor? I thought you left me."

As the words left my lips, a pull began—drawing me down into an abyss of unconsciousness. It was thick and black and I couldn't wake up. It was as if a blanket had been wrapped around me and a heavy weight rested on my stomach to keep me still.

A rocking moved my body back and forth. The thought that I might have been considered dead and taken to be buried crossed my mind. Being buried alive was a great fear of mine, but I could do nothing to stop it, even if that was the case. There was also a thought that I was being taken to a place where I could be sold, as had been the initial intention of drugging me. These thoughts flickered like a quickly burning flame and danced away just as quickly as darkness seized them.

Eventually, the weight on my skin started to lift. Voices echoed into my unconsciousness. I tried to listen with what little control I had over my senses.

"There you go. Package delivered courtesy of Captain Jack Harkness." The word package puzzled me. Was I really to be sold off? My eyes still wouldn't open, but I kept listening. "She just had something to drink. There won't be any damage done. I made sure to check. She reminds me a bit of—”

There was a muffled mumbling that I couldn't make out. The person talked quieter or was further away. No matter what I did, I couldn't hear what they said.

"Well, either way, aren't you glad to have her? I mean, she's all in one piece, though at first she did freak out and run everywhere." I felt a hand on my face. "Her temperature is down to normal, so that means the effects of the drink are definitely wearing off."

Another muffled, mumbled murmur replied.

"She must have been so scared at the pace she was running. I wonder if things like this happen to her often. She seems tough, though." There was some more muffled conversation that I ignored. I didn't want to hear it—they could haggle the price for me without my attention. I relaxed and waited to feel my body again.

The first feeling started in my fingers. The tips started to tingle and I felt the urge to twitch them. Then my toes, and up my legs and arms. Eventually, my whole body tingled and fluttering twitches rolled through my blood, except for my head.

When my face started tingling, it began at my nose and spread throughout the rest of my face. It stayed—and stayed and did not relent. I didn't know if that was how it was supposed to go or if it was a sign of something that went wrong. My eyes wouldn't open and anxiety crept up to my brain.

Pressure dipped the bed beside me. Someone sat. Air started to fill my head—making it light enough to float off my shoulders. Then it dropped. As soon as I realized my head rested on a pillow, I opened my eyes.

My room in the TARDIS. I lay in my bed in my room in the TARDIS. The Doctor sat next to me on my bed in my room in the TARDIS. But he was sitting cross legged and looking at his watch, obviously not realizing I had woken. A slow, groggy smile graced my lips.

I coughed and cleared my throat. "Well, I know you get impatient, but really, Doctor?" The words croaked out of my lips. The Doctor turned as I sat up and pulled my legs up to my chest. He awkwardly rubbed the back of his neck, his mouth opening and closing—a million facial expressions crossing his features. He didn't know what to say.

"Well, you did take an awfully long time to wake up." He finally relented with a smile. Before he could move to get off my bed, I wrapped my arms around his neck and buried my face in his chest. He hugged me back, tighter than I thought possible. I pulled back and blinked away the tears that threatened to fall from my eyes.

"This has got to stop happening to me. I mean, I get kidnapped and experimented on and bugged and drugged—and quite frankly I'm getting tired of it. I am so much better than being some lab rat." A grimace soured the smile on my face. My shoulders shrugged as I continued. "I'm just going to have to be more like River. It's your turn to be the damsel in distress, Doctor." He scoffed as I flopped back onto my mattress

"Yes, well, you should have listened to me and not ingested anything." He pointed a finger at me—wagging it at me like a disappointed nanny. I raised an eyebrow and he retracted his finger. That was smart of him.

"I was sort of held at gunpoint. And since when have I not listened to you?" I snarked. The Doctor didn't really know what to say. I most always listened to what he said—I kept close or I sat down or I didn't go out there.

"Yes, well, I'm the Doctor. I wouldn't look as nice as a damsel in distress—never really liked dresses."

I snorted and followed him out as he walked to the control room. It was time to leave and start another adventure.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> From the warning at the beginning: Laura finds some gumption and meets an Ood during her hallucination whom she nicknames Oodmund. 
> 
> Well, since my work will be shut down until May, I’m taking the time to finish editing this story. Hopefully I’ll have it all posted within the week.
> 
> Stay safe, wash your hands.


	11. Deicide

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Laura and the Doctor visit a jungle.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warning: Some mild attempts at sexual assault/harassment. If this upsets you, skip this chapter.

"Laura, I know you said no more forests, but how about a jungle?" The Doctor turned to me and smiled. I rolled my eyes. But he looked so hopeful.

"Well, I guess that is a slightly different type of habitat and animal population." I shrugged somewhat reluctantly. The bright smile that broke over his face contorted his features—I had to laugh. "Just let me go change." I hopped off my chair and made my way to my room. My pajamas fell from my body and I pulled a sweater over my head. My jeans slid over my skin as I stepped into my shoes and buckled them. Taking my ring and bracelet, I walked out to see the Doctor standing with two pairs of goggles in his hands. They looked like the ones he used to fix the underside of the TARDIS controls—circular in shape and with deep colored lenses.

"You'll need to wear these." He held a pair out to me. I grabbed one of them and situated them over my eyes. "Come on, let me see how you look." He placed his hands on my shoulders to steady me as I adjusted the strap around my head. The goggles tinted everything green. I blinked a few times getting used to the new hue. When I took a step, my feet stumbled. The Doctor chuckled.

"Do I look like a dork?" I asked as I turned to find a mirror. My hands tried to flatten my hair and arrange it to look presentable.

"You look fine,” the Doctor replied with a roll of his eyes. I turned toward the Doctor. He had just put his goggles on. "Now let's go." He held out his hand and we ventured out the door.

The air sat on our shoulders like a hot, humid blanket. Vines draped from the trees and leaves covered every direction as the foliage grew wild. My eyes tried to adjust with the sight before me—the trees and plants creating a vivid splash of beauty.

"After you," I said. My hand gestured for the Doctor to go first.

He looked back at me with a grimace of disgust and uncertainty. I sighed and rolled my eyes as he took two steps forward towards the trees only to come back to stand next to me.

"Maybe we should go together." He crossed his arms and tried to play himself off as cool. My lips tsked in disbelieving amusement.

I took the initiative to walk into the jungle first. The hissing of a distant snake, the cawing of birds, and other sounds associated with the jungle created ambience as we ventured forth.

"This reminds me a little too much of the Rainforest Café." I turned around to look at the Doctor. I had to wait a minute for him to stumble into my line of sight. He followed me at a decent pace, but he was also tripping and stumbling over every bump, twig, and root on the ground. "I think I'm getting better at this whole walking thing while you're getting worse,” I commented with concern. He came to stand in front of me and huffed.

"I know I'm clever and more experienced with this stuff, but you try walking through this with the wrong colored lenses in your goggles." He stuck out his tongue at me like a child and fell to lean on a close by tree. Unfortunately, he completely missed and landed on his back on the ground. I tried not to laugh—the aborted noise catching in my throat. I crouched down in front of him and nodded my head.

"Close your eyes, Doctor,” I said. My hands reached out grabbing the Doctor's goggles and ripped them from his face. Keeping a hand on his head, I ripped mine away and secured them on his face. Before I could juggle the Doctor’s goggles to figure out how to get them on my head and balance enough in my bent position, he spoke.

"Laura, what are you doing?" His voice startled me only a slight, but enough that I lost my balance for a second. My arms reached out and grabbed the nearest thing to keep me upright. "Hurry and put your goggles back on." The Doctor’s voice sounded stressed—his syllables clipped and urgent. If he could see them, I would have rolled my eyes.

Though I didn't have time before the Doctor grabbed my hand and we were running. He pulled me as I stumbled over the dirt without my sight. We weren’t fast, but made it to some safety as we stopped. I tried to catch my breath.

"Doctor what were we running from?" My hands clutched my knees as I bent over. As my knees connected to my hands I realized with horror that I had dropped my goggles as we were running. "Doctor, what would happen if I lost my goggles?" There was crunching on the ground—I turned my head in the direction of the sound trying to follow it. Of course I hadn't opened my eyes yet. I figured, worst case scenario, my eyeballs would melt if I did.

"Well, you'll most likely go blind,” the Doctor replied. The stress of his tone morphed into anger—an aggression hidden as he spoke—even as concern tinged his voice. He didn't like being so out of control of a situation. He liked things to go the way he liked them to go.

"Right, well, we'll just have to go back to the TARDIS and get me another pair." I smiled though I didn't know if it was directed at the Doctor or not. I took a step forward and felt hands pulling me back.

"Not that way. The giant snake is that way."

"Well which way should I go then?" I waited for the Doctor to respond but heard nothing. "Doctor?" Seconds of silence ticked by as I waited again for his response. I walked slowly forward in the direction he had pulled me—unnerved by the utter silence of the jungle around me. "This isn't funny Doctor." My foot nudged something on the floor. I nudged it once more to check for movement before I sank to my knees. My hands reached out to feel out in front of me. I picked up the object with a sigh of relief as my fingers felt its shape. They were goggles. I leaned back on my knees and put the goggles on.

Opening my eyes, the jungle loomed above me. But there was no Doctor. I could understand, looking through these goggles, why the Doctor has such a hard time while wearing them. With the brown hue of the glass, my surroundings had very little contrast. Shapes and shadows stood out, but distinguishing one tree from another was near impossible—don’t even mention the ground and rocks at my feet.

"Doctor?" I took a stumbling step forward. Nothing answered my call. "Are you freaking kidding me? What the hell?" I kicked at the ground. The Time Lord had vanished when I needed him. Of all the things he could have done. I was about to scream at the sky when a piece of white caught my attention—a piece of paper pinned to the tree with a knife. Pulling out the knife, I twirled it in my fingers as I read the note. "If you want your friend back alive follow the snake trail. Perhaps we can make an arrangement."

I clicked my tongue and tilted my head to the sky. At least I could see and had goggles now—however crappy they were. I still had to figure out a way to get the Doctor back. And I was doing no good just standing around waiting for him to magically appear in front of me. My eyes scanned the ground. The shadows formed a trail as I realized my feet were planted firmly in the center of a gigantic snake trail as it curved and weaved. Hoping luck was on my side, I picked a direction and began to walk—trying not to trip. Frustration mixed with amusement as I followed the trail—for once, I wasn’t the one in trouble, but, then again, I was on my own.

The trail seemed to extend forever and I walked for what probably constituted as a few hours. By the time I got the wall of jungle plants and a dead end, I really had no idea where I was in relation to the TARDIS. But my eyes had adjusted as much as they could to the strange hue blanketing the landscape through my goggles.

My fingers reached out to touch the wall before me and pulled away a few leaves to see if anything extended past where the trail ended. A clearing stretched out on the other side where a little band village stood. It looked like a tribe of some sort but it stood still without the trace of any inhabitants. My eyes blinked as the brown hue from my goggles revealed the vibrant colors of the clearing. A curious hum sounded at the back of my throat as I kept scanning for my friend.

The Doctor stood tied against a lone pole in the middle of the clearing. He didn't see me but I sighed in relief—at least he looked all in one piece.

My sigh was abruptly cut short at the feeling of a pointed jab at my back. My body froze as I turned slowly.

Behind me crouched ten warriors—women in furs and large replica animal skulls over their faces—completely outmatching me. All of their spears pointed directly at my mushy, vulnerable bits. My breath caught in my throat and my heart beat rapidly, on the verge of popping out of my chest.

They spoke to each other—low voices and hushed whispers I couldn’t hear. Then they stood straight, as one, with the spears still pointed and pushed me back into the clearing. My eyes looked around the small village as I was taken to its heart where the Doctor stood. A few males of the tribe and fewer women stood around cooking and caring for children.

The warriors stopped and surrounded me, spears aimed closely at my neck. There was no direction I could move unless I wanted a beautiful necklace of my own blood.

"Don't hurt her,” the Doctor called from his post. His concern washed over me as I met his gaze but something else sparked in his eyes—something more on his mind that he was thinking about. One of my captors walked over and jabbed him in the ribs with the blunt end of her spear.

"Silence,” the warrior said. "Or we will feed you to Te’ahn.”

"Who is Te’ahn?" I asked. The spears surrounding my neck lowered minutely. I looked over each of them—expressions of reverence stared back at me.

"Te’ahn is the snake god and great protector of the father god, Vergil." The woman gestured to a large golden statue with inlaid jewels and the giant snake that sat coiled before it. They both sat on a raised platform, steps leading up to them with a wall of leaves behind. I took a wild guess and assumed Te’ahn was the snake that kidnapped the Doctor and left the trail for me to follow.

"So that is your god?" I gestured to the statue. Everyone in the village looked to each other and laughed. I nervously chuckled along with them as my stomach turned sour.

"No that is his idol. Have you not seen a god before?” The response took me off-guard as the woman approached me. Her fingers pulled my chin to look into her eyes. “Vergil comes to command us and will come soon—for you." I stood frozen in my place though the warriors had lowered their weapons. My hands grew clammy and my throat dried out. Whatever they meant, it would not end well for me. There was no way for me to escape—not without the Doctor.

Leaves began to rustle from behind the golden statue. My attention focused on the noise as a man emerged from the greenery. Each and every member of the village immediately dropped to the ground. Their noses touched the dirt as their arms extend before them in their bow. No one spoke a word—not even the children muttered a sound. Immediately, my eyes snapped to the man they worshipped—for that was all he was, a man.

"And who are you, then?" I crossed my arms. The man stepped forward, patting the snake affectionately on the head as he passed.

My eyes scanned over his figure, trying to discern what made him god-like. I found nothing of note. A head covered by thick, prematurely grey hair. Khaki pants and an olive green linen shirt on his body. Thick, mud-crusted boots on his feet. And he was wearing goggles just like the Doctor and me.

The man chuckled and walked to sit on a large throne by the side of the statue. Woven from tree branches and adorned with bright leaves, feathers, and gems, I titled my head as he slung his body over the chair—knees resting over one of the arms and completely at his leisure.

"My name's Vergil Tuppington the III." He watched me for my reaction. His brows furrowed and his fist clenched as he observed my indifference. I rolled my eyes and stomped up the steps to stand in front of him. The members of the tribe stayed still on the ground—not one eye moved to look at us.

"So you're the god then." I put my weight on my left foot and examined the man before me. My hip cocked to the side as I tried—so hard—to figure out how he got to this status. I didn't see how he could be a god.

My eyes glanced back to the statue made of gold and jewels. Perhaps if you squinted your eyes and tilted your head to the side you could see it.

"Laura, don't engage him in conversation." The Doctor turned towards me. My eyes met his and exchanged a short conversation through facial expressions and body language. Eventually, the discussion ended. The Doctor sighed in exasperation. "Really, you don't want to engage with him."

"Like I said before, I'm Vergil." The man smiled. A shiver crawled up my spine at the predatory glint in his eye. His arms gestured wide at the villagers. "And I am their god." I rolled my eyes, again. I would have to stop that or they would roll out of my skull. Vergil’s eyes darted to the Doctor with a glare as he took in his kingdom.

"So what do you want with me and my friend?" I walked closer to Vergil, reclined on the throne. He crossed his arms and examined me as if I were a specimen on a Petri dish. I suppressed a visible cringe.

"Well your friend will most likely be eaten by Te’ahn, my snake. Isn't it brilliant?” His smile turned sinister as one of his hands reached out to snatch my own. “You, my glorious beauty, will be my queen and we shall rule this world through space and time." He leered at me and I had to work at keeping the contents of my stomach from making a revolting appearance. Though I did scoff and back up a step. My hand yanked from his hold as I retreated.

"Be your queen? Really? Why would I want to do that?" My arms crossed furiously across my chest. My hands clenched firmly as I glared down at him.

"You're a beautiful lady. And I need a queen, so consent and all will be well." He gestured with his hand and Te’ahn uncoiled and slithered closer to the Doctor. I looked over and scurried down the few steps to stand between the snake and my friend.

"Well you haven't really made my whole ‘consenting to be your queen’ thing worthwhile. You're not going to coerce me like this. If you want me to be your queen, why not try acting like a gentleman?" I snarked, keeping my eyes firmly on the snake that neither advanced nor retreated. Using my periphery, I watched Vergil—trying to keep an eye on both, but not wanting to let my guard down on either front.

"Well," Vergil stroked his chin. "I guess your boyfriend doesn't have to die." I stifled the laugh that bubbled in my throat.

"Boy, have you got to get your facts checked. My friend is married to someone else. We're just traveling together—best friends, platonic, you know." I smiled over at Vergil, feeling almost victorious. "So let him go, now." One of the women stood and cut the Doctor's binding, but held him tightly in place. I watched as Vergil thought. His eyes stayed trained on me. Te’ahn moved back to its position in front of the statue and I relaxed slightly. Though tight as a spring, my mind remained alert until Vergil gave his decision.

"Well if he is just a friend, you won't need him." Vergil clapped his hands. The villagers surrounding us dispersed and the warrior holding the Doctor dragged him away with three others as escorts. The Doctor struggled to stay with me in his sight. But his strength could not break free from their grip. Vergil started to walk away and I was alone with the giant snake—speechless and flabbergasted. "Are you coming?" Vergil called to me as he walked back through the wall of plants. I looked once more in the direction of the Doctor before storming after the man.

I tore through the plant life after Vergil, ready to snap. But my feet halted as I stumbled into his space ship. That was the only thing I could think to call it—a proper looking spaceship. Vergil sauntered down the gangplank and motioned for me to follow. I huffed an aggravated breath before stomping after him. As the enclosed space surrounded me, I shuddered as some of the fury melted away to trepidation. My mind flitted back to his desires and I clenched my teeth.

"Welcome to paradise," Vergil chuckled to himself. I rolled my eyes and scanned the ship—glancing at every button and compartment.

"What do you get from it? Being a god and all?" I asked. My fingers lingered on a big red button, tempted to press it.

He chuckled. "I get power and glory and I feed my ego. What's better than that?"

"Didn't you think of convincing people about your godliness in a less rural place?" I turned back to him and leaned on his dash.

"I did, but then I crashed here and I haven't left." His shoulders shrugged and a coy grin stretched his lips. "Before you ask why I didn't leave, I can give you that answer. The food is brilliant—comes from the richest soil in all the galaxies." Vergil walked over to me and grabbed my arm in a vice-like grip, placing his other around my waist. "Here, let's get you something to eat." He dragged me over to a long table and forcefully sat me down.

"I'm not hungry. I want to see my friend now." I stood and made to walk out of the ship. However, Vergil made a point of blocking my path. The look in his eyes was feral—as if he were a wolf, and I the lamb he would devour.

His footsteps stalked towards me. I backed further away with each step. His eyes glinted with intent. I almost stumbled into the table and my chair as he kept advancing, but I pushed the chair before me to block his path. That didn't put him off for long, though, as he stepped around it.

My head turned only a slight to see anything lying on the ground, something that might trip me. In that instant, my body was thrust against the table. Vergil leered over me, arms on either side of my frame—caging in my form and pinning my limbs.

"I can just tell. We're going to get along swimmingly." He slowly leaned down—his nose brushing mine and tracing a line from my temple down my cheek toward my lips. A deep breath expanded my chest and on the exhale, I thrust my knee up with all the force I could muster. A smile spread across my lips as Vergil’s body seized in pain and slumped atop me on the table. My hands pushed him off me and he collapsed in a puddle of pain on the floor.

I stood, brushing food from my back and walked back to the village. As soon as I emerged from the foliage, the villagers greeted me. Like they were waiting.

As soon as I made a move, every person fell to the floor. Frozen in confusion, I looked around and tried to figure out what happened. The snake slithered behind me. The crunching sound of feet coming from the wall of plants prompted me to shuffle toward the steps.

"I am their god. They think we just consummated a bond, making you their goddess,” Vergil said. My stomach heaved at his implication. "They're worshipping you." The man wobbled out, still in pain. I smirked—I guess I gave him one hell of a kick. He stumbled up to me and placed his grip around my waist. Immediately, I tried to move away, but couldn’t budge in his grasp. My hand grabbed his and I flipped him on his back—silently thanking River for the self defense lessons. He didn’t move with the wind knocked out of him.

"Don't you dare touch me again,” I spat at him and walked down the steps, searching the crowd for the warriors. "Where is my friend?" I asked one of the women who dragged the Doctor away.

She stood and quickly escorted me to a cage behind one of the houses. The Doctor sat, crouched in one of the corners, trying to sonic the branches.

"Stupid branch. Stupid wood. Stupid sonic screwdriver." The Doctor kept hitting the bars, trying to break them. I cleared my throat and the Doctor whipped around, a huge smile on his face. "Laura Foster, there you are." I smiled down at him and had the woman unlock the door.

"Gosh, Doctor, where have you been?" I held out my hand for him to take. He grabbed it and stood, almost hitting his head on the top of the cage. "Let's get going."

We walked back to the village center. The snake sat coiled, waiting for us. Vergil lay unconscious on the platform and the idol had fallen over to the ground—as if pushed over.

"Laura, what did you do?" the Doctor asked with amusement in his eyes. I shrugged as my eyes found Te’ahn. Its head bowed to me as some of the men tied Vergil to a stick as if he were a suckling pig.

"I don't know." I separated myself from the Doctor and walked up to the men as he tightened a rope. "What are you doing?" The men dropped their ropes and fell to the floor. I sighed and massaged my temples.

"It is time to sacrifice our father god to the volcano. His purpose is over, mother." They stayed on the floor, even as I insisted they stand. I thought over their words. My eyes glanced to the Doctor as I debated letting these people think Vergil was successful in his sexual assault.

"No,” I said while shaking my head. “There will be no sacrifice. The bond was not—" I paused, hating the word at the tip of my tongue. "Consummated." The men looked at me and then at my stomach. I'm sure I looked disheveled enough, but they untied Vergil regardless.

"Then you must go and complete your task." A woman warrior, the one who had taken me to the Doctor, approached. She held her spear pointed directly at my chest. The Doctor strode up beside me. Clutching my hand, I knew exactly how we were going to handle this.

"Oh," I smiled as my vice cracked. "Ok. I see what you want me to do here. I only have one word to say to that." The Doctor and I backed up a step with each words out of my lips. No one followed us. They just stood still. "No." And we ran. The snake immediately started to chase after us.

I instructed the Doctor to take the snake's trail back to the TARDIS. The big blue police telephone box loomed over us and the snake hadn't caught up yet. We jumped inside and the Doctor ran up to the controls to start us flying away.

"Well," I walked up behind the Doctor and sat on my chair, breathing heavily and trying to cool down. "That certainly was interesting. But let's hope it never happens again." The Doctor chuckled and turned towards me. "It was sort of weird to be a god, though—didn't really like it. I don't understand how Vergil put up with it."

"Well, I guess you just don't have the ego to feed." The Doctor crossed his arms and leaned on the controls. "You're too good for it."

"Nah, I'm not. I'm not good enough." A small sad smile graced my lips as I looked down at my jeans and ripped off the goggles from my head. The Doctor's eyes flitted over me as I played with the strap. A familiar feeling of inadequacy washed over me like a tidal wave.

"I don't believe that for a second, Laura. Of every person alive in the universe, you've taken the chance to travel through time and space with me." Pride laced the Doctor's voice. "You were born with two hearts, you can say Irish wishwash-Irishwhishs-Irish. Wrist. Watch.” He huffed a breath before he continued, “you're a princess on an alien planet, you've battled a dragon, you've been a god. I think that counts as at least one reason you're better than good enough." The Doctor kept his gaze on me. I looked up at him and met his eyes—my vision slightly blurred by the beginnings of tears. "I don’t just let anyone into the TARDIS. Each one of them had something unique and wonderful inside—which means there's something unique and wonderful about you. You just have to believe in yourself like I believe in you." For a second, every person he had ever traveled with flashed through his memory as his smile faltered.

"I'm sorry I’ve brought those memories up," I said. My hands gripped the goggles strap as determination buzzed through my veins. "I just want you to know that I'm never—" The Doctor put up his hand, motioning for me to stop talking.

"Don't finish that sentence." He lowered his hand and I stood to give him a hug. "Everyone who says that, they get taken from me." His voice sounded thick with tears as we stood holding each other.

"Don't worry about that then. We'll be great, just you and me." I pulled away and nodded. "Where to next?"

The Doctor shrugged and we both turned to the console. There were so many options. So many places we hadn't been yet.

The Doctor glanced at me from the corner of his eye. I could tell he was trying to look when I wouldn't notice, but I caught his reflection in the glass of a screen. He looked worried for me. I decided not to dwell as my stomach turned sour and angled my face toward him.

"Doctor, do you believe in a god? Like some great higher being that is omniscient and omnipotent, that controls the lives of everyone everywhere?" I waited patiently for his answer. It took minutes that I could hear ticking by for the Doctor to say anything.

"I don't know." The Doctor turned back to the controls and the TARDIS started jerking and flying. I looked down at my shoes and let my hair fall over my shoulders, blocking him from my sight.

"I guess I don't know either." I said and then started to do something I never thought I would—I silently prayed.


	12. Disease

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Laura and the Doctor spend a day flying around Titan.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> For these last three chapters, MIND THE TAGS!!! I always update them for each chapter and they are going to be important for some content warning since I didn’t want to have serious spoilers.

Sometimes, there were clues that you could perceive from those around you. Once you know someone so well, they leave little markers or there are little twitches in their face that they hope you miss.

Like the Doctor. He thought I missed it. Every time he looked over at me, his smiled dropped before I turned to look back at him. He could feel what I felt—that something bad was going to happen. Trepidation and dread saturated every crevice of the TARDIS—like she was trying to tell me.

And I really wanted to throw a fit and deny that the end of my adventure drew near—and I was determined that should it come, I would not take it lying down. I was going to leave the TARDIS on my terms. And my terms alone.

"Titan, then?" I leaned on the console and looked at the Doctor across from me. "Isn't that like a moon or something?" The Doctor smacked some buttons and yanked a lever.

"Saturn's moon, to be exact." He smiled over at me. "They turned it into a theme park—well sort of.” His nose scrunched as he thought for a second. “The gravity was already a bit off, but then they tweaked it." My head tilted as I observed the Doctor, trying to understand He continued, "You can fly around on it." My jaw dropped in awe as we landed—though if we made it to our intended destination was yet to be determined. "Let's go fly." The Doctor took me by the arm and we ventured outside.

Gazing out at the landscape before us, the surface was rocky and brownish red. Images from Mars came to mind. The immediate view held no real distinguishing factors from any other rocky surface. Then I stepped out of the TARDIS.

The first step out was like trying to walk in a slightly under-inflated bouncy castle. My balance failed me, but my body seemed unable to fall. My feet made their way forward until I was standing a small distance away from the TARDIS. The Doctor stayed just inside his ship, watching me. I turned back towards him after scanning the horizon.

"I can fly?" I called back, ready to take off and bouncing only slightly on my toes. Excitement coursed through my veins. The Doctor nodded. "Tell me how,” I demanded immediately.

"Would you accept faith, trust, and pixie dust?" Laughter permeated his voice as he spoke. His clear enjoyment amped up my excitement. "Just jump." He demonstrated and flew over to me. "It's pretty simple—just got to get a handle on it."

I paused, looking down at the ground, wondering whether I should jump. My mind whirred for a moment—anxiety tinging the corners of my enthusiasm. A billion different things could happen—I could fall, or crash.

But I jumped, prepared to plummet back to the ground. I didn't. Instead my body floated, though I wasn't sure what I was supposed to do after. The slightest move of my arm flipped me as I tipped upside down. The Doctor helped me right myself, but I didn't know how to move, so I just stopped. I floated in the air, waiting for something to happen. The Doctor chuckled and flew around behind me, shoving me forward. My arms flailed as I struggled to gain balance in the air. As soon as I got the hang of it—figured out what I had to do to fly—I had fun with it. The Doctor and I flew all around the moon. The landscape expanded before us with some really great views that took my breath away.

"This is really beautiful, isn't it Doctor?" I smiled over at him as we hovered over the rocks of a great cliff. We overlooked a deep valley. Of course it was brownish red and much of it was the same color, but it still was breathtaking. "Have you ever been here before?"

"Once, when I was a young boy." The Doctor looked over the horizon lost in thought.

"Oh, so you were here last week," I snarked, trying to lighten the mood. I launched myself away as fast as I could as he tried to chase after me.

We soared around, him still giving chase. We laughed and relaxed, floating for a moment with the breeze. It was a change of pace—a pleasant one. "It's almost as if nothing could go wrong." I flipped my body to back stroke through the atmosphere.

"Don't you know, Laura, you're never supposed to say things like that." Though the Doctor laughed at his comment. "Either way, we should head back to the TARDIS now. It's getting late."

I agreed taking one last look at the planet around us and we started to fly back to the TARDIS. I drifted backwards most of the way—having too much fun gliding around as if I were swimming. My eyes kept watch on the Doctor to make sure I didn't run into anything behind me. But I didn't catch the Doctor stopping as I backed full force into a hard metal wall.

My hands braced on it as I turned and looked up. It wasn't really a wall. A great robot towered over me while I floated midair, but its feet were firmly planted on the ground. I glanced over at the Doctor as he floated in front of another one. He sized them up and hovered just before their faces.

"Hello, I'm the Doctor and this is Laura Foster.” He gestured to me and I waved awkwardly at the robots. “We were just here having a bit of fun. What are you doing here?"

A tickle irritated my throat. I tried to clear it, but I didn't want to get in the way of the Doctor figuring out what was wrong. The Doctor glanced at me in his periphery.

"What is your purpose here?" The robot's voice was monotone and male, just like most robots I had met. The Doctor turned to me as I kept trying to clear my throat. I waved him off and he kept on in his inquiry with the robot.

"Like I said, we needed a bit of fun. But I asked first, why are you here?" The Doctor flew around the robot full circle. The only part of the robot that turned was his head, following the Doctor with his gaze.

"This moon is contaminated with pneumonoplastitus bronchus 13Z."

The Doctor's smile instantly dropped. He turned to me as I let out a full-blown cough, trying to get the tickle out of my throat—though it infuriatingly persisted.

"Sorry, Doctor, it's just a tickle. I need some water." I smiled as the Doctor flew over to me and cupped my face in his hand. My cheeks scrunched up in his palms. "What's wrong?" I mumbled, starting to worry. What was this pneumono-something-something that the robot was talking about?

"I'm so sorry Laura, but you're going to need a lot more than water." The Doctor’s fingers tightened on my cheeks as his shoulders slumped and worried rage took over his countenance. My bones became weak with fear. The Doctor turned back to the robot. "This should be MARKED!" Hearing the Doctor shout shocked me—his anger tearing out of his throat.

The Doctor grabbed my hand and flew us quickly back to the TARDIS. I still had no idea what was going on, but the tickle in my throat worsened to a full itch that would not abate. The Doctor and I entered the TARDIS and landed on our feet. Immediately, I left to find a glass of water. It didn't help.

I returned to the console room, coughing forcefully to try to get the itch out of my throat. The Doctor wasn't doing anything, except waiting for me. He sat in my chair—my notebook in his lap—flipping through the pages and stroking each one as it passed.

"Doctor, is something wrong?" I asked. My voice scratched in my throat from the coughing and I cleared it as best I could. I sank into the space on the bench seat next to him. The Doctor snapped out of whatever he was thinking and closed my notebook with a jolt.

Seeing my form next to him, his shoulder slumped as he muttered, "Pneumonoplastitus bronchus 13Z." The Doctor sighed and grabbed one of my hands. I grinned over at him, ignoring the discomfort emanating from my throat—growing from an irritating itch to a burn.

"Yeah, what is that anyway?" I drew away and stood, leaning against the console. The Doctor’s eye followed me as I moved, but when I looked to him, his gaze darted away.

"It's a fatal lung disease that affects your breathing and attacks your airways. Eventually, you die.” His eyes drifted to the ceiling as he kept talking. “There's no known cure. It was a cause for a massive wipe-out of humans in the 63rd century. There's nothing I can do." The Doctor looked to me—breathing through his mouth, closing and shutting it as if looking for something more to say. Water welled in his tear ducts, but he sniffed them away.

"I'm assuming I have it,” I said with a tight voice. He nodded in confirmation. I tried to take a deep breath through my nose to calm myself, and ended up in a coughing fit. Once I stopped, I looked back to my friend. "Um, why don't you?"

Deep sadness flooded his eyes. "Because I'm a Time Lord and my race has developed an immunity to pneumonoplastitus bronchus 13Z through years of evolution." The Doctor placed his head in his hands. "I'm so sorry." A single tear leaked from my eye and trailed its way down my cheek.

"There's no cure and no one in the universe that can help us.” My arms hugged my abdomen as my mind struggled to resign itself to the fate awaiting me.

But the Doctor bolted up from the chair, shaking his head. Determination burned fiercely in his eyes.

"We're going to visit some friends of mine." The Doctor started to dance frantically around the console of the TARDIS. I could tell this wasn't a real plan—no real hope that going to see this friend would help. But this was the Doctor's last-ditch, all-chips-in effort and he was clinging to it. And I was right next to him, doing the same thing.

"Where are we going?" I looked over him, wiping away the tears in my eyes.

The Doctor didn't stop or slow down as he replied to me. "We're going to see the ood."

He rushed around the TARDIS console and I sat down in my chair, a bout of dizziness wracking my brain. As he kept the TARDIS on track, I attempted to catch my breath, shake away the light-headedness, and wrap my mind around my expiration date looming much closer than anticipated. I was going to die from an alien disease. Bone-deep exhaustion weighed down my limbs as I leaned back in the chair by the console. The Doctor’s frantic movement whirred around in my periphery. He was doing his best to find a solution, to run to it and fix everything. But I couldn’t—I just couldn’t. It was in my body, buried in my lungs and throat.

My coughing wracked my body once more as I doubled over in pain. A sickly feeling—like blood trickling down my throat—burned my esophagus and into my lungs. I heaved and retched at the sensation. The Doctor stayed glued to his piloting, but his eyes looked over at me with wide concern.

“Hold on, Laura, almost there,” he pleaded from his spot.

The TARDIS landed and he took a deep breath, waiting for me to join him by the door. My body took a moment to move—my limbs weighted by exhaustion and my head dizzy with vertigo. My steps were unsteady. The Doctor knew it as he placed his arm around my waist and helped me walk. I knew I would fall to the ground like a sack of potatoes should he release me.

Cold bit into my exposed skin outside, snow blew in a storm and white coated the tundra before us. Waiting were three ood. Only one of the three was like Oodmund with a translator ball attached to their jumpsuit. The other two looked the same, though they wore different clothes and instead held their hands before them, clasping some unknown thing with delicacy in their palms.

As we approached closer, two more ood emerged from the snow and held their hands out to me. They both had the communication balls and the Doctor's grip tightened on my waist. My eyes scanned the two ood waiting for me. The omega symbol crested the chest of one of them and my heart soared with inexplicable joy.

"Oodmund," I stepped forward, away from the Doctor to embrace the alien as a watery smile graced my lips. The ood nodded and caught me as my legs collapsed beneath me.

"Laura—" The Doctor's voice caught in his throat. I turned my attention to him. He took a step forward but hesitated. His mouth gaped open for a second before he closed his lips in a tight line. I felt Oodmund take a few steps backwards, away from the Doctor. I followed out of necessity as my ood friend retreated.

"Doctor.” The rest of my statement went unsaid due to an episode of breathlessness which caused a few more ood to encircle me.

Oodmund and the others guided me—rather, carried me—towards a beautiful structure that loomed like a gothic palace carved out of mountain and ice. Entering the cavernous structure, our path twisted and turned until we arrived at a room.

One ood sat before a fire, their head shaped as though molded by a brain. I knew the peculiar shape—so different than the rest of the ood—meant something of significance. Their eyes remained closed until I was set across from them, the fire flickering between us and obstructing some of my view. Their eyes snapped open and observed me. I shivered—and coughed—not from the cold, but from the feeling that all my secrets were laid bare before their gaze.

"So, she has arrived." The ood hadn't spoken aloud—they didn't have a translator ball. "Your mind, child." My eyes widened with my first brush of telepathy—outside of the TARDIS—in my journey. The ood's head tilted back. "I believe it is time."

Though they spoke no more, the other ood left as if dismissed, except Oodmund. My friend stayed sitting by my side.

"The Doctor has left you."

My obvious shock did not stop the ood. My breath seized in my lungs and I gasped for air. Oodmund’s hand rested on my back, soothing my distress as best he could. Our familiarity helped ease me back to a state of attention, though disbelief coursed through me.

"We will care for you. There is nothing we can do for your condition, save prolong the time you have left in this world. The Doctor, though, must travel through the stars throughout time to find the ingredients we need before it is too late." A coughing fit tore through my body with the ood’s last words—my lungs convulsing in my chest as I gasped for breath. There was nothing I could do to quell it. "If it is not too late already." The rest of the coughs choked in my throat with a pained yelp.

Oodmund’s hand remained on my back, rubbing circles of comfort that did little to reassure me. The ood elder stood and walked towards us around the fire. Their hand rested on my head a moment before they walked out the door.

Oodmund took me further into the room and coaxed me to lie down on a bed. I didn't want to lie down, I wanted to find the Doctor—I wanted to help him and not be sick anymore—I wanted to wake up from this horrible, horrible nightmare. Fear draped over my body as I resisted Oodmund’s urging to recline.

"You must lay down, Laura. Your health depends on it." Oodmund eased me down on the bed. A moment passed before I sat back up, looking around the room with a frantic gaze. Oodmund again attempted to get me to be still.

"Where's the Doctor?" I pleaded as my eyes scanned my surroundings and another cough stuck in my throat. Oodmund held my hand in one hand and his communication ball in the other as they reassured me that the Doctor would be back shortly.

Eased, somewhat by the monotonous tone of my friend’s voice and the warmth of the fire, I drifted in and out of sleep. Each time my eyes opened, reality blurred with dreams and I had to question my own sanity.

What seemed like hours passed and my body began to grow hotter and hotter. The elder ood came to check on me periodically. I asked each time after the Doctor, if he had returned. Each time I got the same head shake—he was still gone.

Eventually a deeper sleep claimed me and I could no longer open my eyes. In a blind consciousness, I felt sweat clinging to my brow. Someone took a cloth and wiped it away as they stroked my hair and caressed my cheek—a much more familiar and affectionate gestured than what I would expect from Oodmund. My body stayed still, my eyelids too heavy to open in my state. A pressure rested against my forehead—presumably the person’s forehead as their nose brushed mine and their breath ghosted over my lips. Definitely not the Doctor, then. My thoughts were confirmed as the Doctor’s voice echoed through the room.

"Where is she? Let me see her, I have what she needs," the Doctor shouted. I could only imagine him pushing past oods as he rushed in. "I got what you wanted, now help her." There was no patience in his voice, just a pleading demand.

Somewhere in the room feet shuffled and a chant began. It grew closer and my body was lifted into a sitting position. Sticky fingers dabbed my eyelids and nostrils. The odor caused bile to rise in my throat—a floral, earthy, rotten smell of decomposition and death. I didn't get the chance to vomit, however, as the sticky liquid was forced into my mouth and down my esophagus. My body, still not under my control, was lowered back to its previous horizontal position on the bed.

"Now we must wait. Doctor, you must be prepared for the worst if you were too late,” the elder ood stated, for my benefit as well. The Doctor started to speak, but he was cut off by another voice.

"That's not good enough. Do something else. You said you could help her." I knew that voice—Dorian. His voice cracked with anger and distress. I wished I could open my eyes to see him and I wished I could smile.

"We have done all we can." A very clinical touch traveled over my face. "Though she seems to be receiving the medicine well, the illness may still resurface in the future."

A thud resounded off the walls and a curse broke through the air. There was a scuffling sound and mumbled whispers in a far corner. I couldn't discern what was being said, or even who speaking.

Then a hand clasped mine in a vice-like grip.

"Come on Laura, pull through this. It's the least you could do. I've searched the stars for you." The tease fizzled on Dorian's lips as he spoke—he was too serious, too upset.

The slime roiled in my stomach, as if the medicine had come to life. It moved and soaked and spread through my body. It slithered up my nose and through my tear ducts as it went about its task. Oh, how I wanted to vomit the stuff up. The sensation was not pleasant as I felt pulls and tugs within my chest. As the medicine calmed its movement, my fever—the fiery temperature—grew tenfold.

"We have to get going." It was the Doctor. "There's one more thing we have to do before she's alright." What was happening next, I didn’t know. But apparently the Doctor did. My body lifted and swayed as someone carried me. The TARDIS engines groaned as I was set on a much more comfortable bed.

Eventually, my temperature began to cool. I no longer felt consumed by flames. My eyelids cracked open and a small grin stretched over my lips. As I regained control of the rest of my body, I got up, clinging to the walls as I walked out of my room. Both the Doctor and Dorian stood around the console as the Doctor flew the TARDIS. They talked in hushed tones. As soon as they noticed I was awake and in the room, they became silent.

"Hey, thanks for getting what the ood needed to help me, I'm feeling better now. I'll be fine, right?" My hands clutched at the hem of my shirt as I leaned against the railing—more for support then nonchalance. The faint hope in my mind slipped away as I spoke. I sat down in my regular seat and watched as the Doctor smiled and Dorian played with his vortex manipulator. A sigh escaped my lips, exhausted and defeated. "It's ok. I know that I might relapse. I won't be contagious though, right?" I looked at the Doctor. His smile had fallen from his face.

"No, you're not contagious, but your body can't take too much strain." He kept flying the TARDIS, avoiding all eye contact with me.

"So what? No more running? Cause that's fantastic. I hated that part the most." My attempt at levity fell flat. I glanced over at the Doctor but still his eyes refused to look in my direction. "Dorian, you coming with us?" I asked. With his response of a smile and a nod, my heart fluttered. Though he didn’t speak, his acknowledgement was appreciated. A cough tickled my throat and the two before me cringed. Rage rose up in my gut. It burned—not directed toward them, but toward circumstance. And it boiled over. "Damnit! Fuckin’ hell!" I clutched my notebook, ever on its place in my chair, and chucked it across the room. Both men looked away from me. The engines of the TARDIS stopped and I stood, trying to calm myself. "Where are we?" The Doctor walked to me, a sad smile on his face.

"We're home, Laura." The Doctor took my hands and led me towards the door. Dorian stood there, waiting to push the door open. He ventured out first as my feet stuck in their spot in the door frame.

"That's impossible." I gripped the doorway of the TARDIS as I looked out at Hyde Park and the statue of Peter Pan shrouded in night. Understanding dawned immediately. "My home is the TARDIS, Doctor. You can't make me leave." I turned as desperate tears filled my eyes. "Please." The Time Lord pulled me into the tightest hug I had ever felt.

"You were one of the best, Laura Foster,” he whispered into my ear. I clung tighter to the Doctor as he pulled away. "But now it's time to say goodbye, for your own good."

"No, don't say goodbye. Cause you're gonna visit me, right?" I looked up at the Doctor and wiped away my tears. I understood, but acceptance would not come.

"Of course." His voice broke over the words. He leaned in to kiss my head. "I'll be back and I'll never forget you." I turned back toward London waiting just outside the TARDIS.

"I don't know what I'll do without you." I refused to turn around again. To look back in the TARDIS and see the life I had with the Doctor might have killed me on the spot. I never wanted to leave.

And that part of me took control. The part that didn't care about my health, the part that just wanted to stay and be happy traveling with the Doctor.

And I knew there was only one choice for me, on my terms, and I made my declaration, “No, I'm not leaving. You're my best friend—like family." I took a step back into the ship. "No, I'm not leaving. I won’t." The Doctor wrapped his hand around my shoulders. For a moment, it was comforting.

"Always so stubborn. That's what I love about you. Along with countless other things, of course." The Doctor drew me closer to him as we gazed out at the park. I smiled and looked to the ground. "Which makes this so hard." His arm tensed around me. My own spine drew taut at his words. "I'm so sorry." His voice cracked as he pushed and I stumbled forward—away from him and out of the TARDIS.

Immediately, I turned back as the door slammed and locked. The engines sounded, echoing in the empty park. I pounded on the door, calling for the Doctor to let me in. Though the TARDIS disappeared all the same.

As soon as the last traces of the police box vanished, I slumped to the ground, crumpling into a ball as sobs tore through me. Dorian stood behind me, unsure of whether to comfort me or stand back. My hand reached back for him. His body sank behind mine as he gathered me into his arms. We sat together on the pavement for hours as I emptied all the sorrow in my soul onto his shoulder—forgotten in the park.


	13. Dyspnea

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> What happens after the Doctor leaves Laura behind?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> MIND THE TAGS!!

It was strange how much happened in three years—how much was _possible_ in three years. You could get married, have your book published, have a baby, move to a new place, find your dream job, eat countless amounts of ice cream—the possibilities were endless.

In the three years since the Doctor abandoned me for my own good, a lot had changed. I felt old and I couldn't even bring myself to read my notebook of adventures. It lay forgotten in the back of my closet, after somehow appearing in my flat a month after the TARDIS left me behind. Instead, my time was spent reading other books and writing when ideas came. Though, deadlines were never my strong suit.

If I’m being honest, the only book I read was one entitled _The Rose Garden_ by Susanna Kearsley. It was worn and starting to fall apart. It was a book that had been on my shelf since the year I graduated college. The story helped keep me together—even on my roughest days. The beautifully written prose reminded me why I wanted to be an author. It was just a bonus that it dealt vaguely with time travel.

After the Doctor flew away, my world fell apart. Aimless, I didn't know what to do with myself. Though, by the time a year had passed, I had a job and everything was alright enough.

My illness hadn't resurfaced, which always loomed in the background of everything. Every time I got a cold or let out a cough, Dorian looked at me and waited until I took another breath before sighing in relief.

Him sticking around, that was also fairly new. The first few weeks, he stayed by my side as emotions clashed and erupted inside me. As I began to sort out my life and start to accept my fate, he would disappear periodically. Until one day, about a year and a half in, he showed up on my doorstep surrounded by luggage and asked to stay.

Today, though, was my birthday. Perfect for me, the sun shone softly through a blanket of fluffy, white clouds. I finished a morning meeting and sat at home, reading the same book and waiting for Dorian so we could go out and celebrate.

A knock on the door broke the quiet of the apartment. My head looked over, brows furrowed in confusion. Dorian had a key—he would just come in—and I wasn't expecting anyone else. My family was on a cruise to Alaska, they wouldn't be here. But the knock sounded again.

Figuring it was a delivery of some sort, I stood to open the door. My eyes widened in surprise and every word in my vocabulary vanished from my mind.

"Happy Birthday, Laura Foster." The Doctor stood before me, arms outstretched, waiting for me to hug him. But my muscles were paralyzed in shock. The Doctor lowered his arms and looked to the floor. "Uh, how many years has it been?" My mind raced and my heart beat loudly in my ears. My mouth stayed slightly agape. "Right, well, I should just be going then."

I gulped and pushed out some words stuck in my throat, "You want a cup of tea?" I looked at the Doctor, my knuckles white and clinging to the door. "Three years is a while to catch up on." The Doctor glanced up at me with a repentant smile. He entered and I closed the door behind him. He waited and I led him to the kitchen. His stilted movements slowly eased as a small smile graced my face.

"You got a different place since I last saw you, this one is bigger." The Doctor sat down at the table in the kitchen area, watching as I put the kettle on to heat up the water. I turned towards him and leaned on my counter, facing in his direction.

"A lot has changed since you last saw me." I started to play with the sleeve of my cardigan. Standing here and talking with the Doctor wasn't supposed to be difficult, but it was. So I just awkwardly smiled and kept my eyes looking anywhere but at his face.

"Your style hasn't." The Doctor examined me up and down. I smiled at him and absentmindedly pressed out the non-existent wrinkled on my skirt. He smiled over at me. "You look quite nice today."

"Yeah, well I was waiting for Dorian to get here to celebrate my birthday." I glanced toward the pot, waiting for the water to boil. The Doctor's smile widened.

"Ah, so Dorian stayed with you then." He tried to catch my eye, as I avoided it.

"Uh, we're married, actually." I looked over at him through the corner of my eye, trying to gauge his reaction. When I looked, his smile stretched his features and his eyes twinkled. Confusion swept through me for a second.

"So you're actually Laura Foster now." The Doctor's eyes brightened as I nodded my head in confirmation. "I told you, you would find him." A wry chuckle spilled out of my lips.

"You could have warned me, you know," I replied. The shriek of the kettle prompted me to turn, take the pot off and pour two cups. I opened the cupboard and searched through my collection of tea, placing a packet in each. "I hope this is alright. It’s Dorian's favorite." I smiled and set the cup in front of the Doctor. He didn't touch it. "But, uh, Dorian and I have been married a year and a half, almost. It'll actually be half in December." My fingers played with the string of my tea packet as I spoke. The Doctor’s eyes observed me. He didn't say anything, just stared as we waited for the tea to steep. I couldn't take the silence, so I started to speak once more. "We were actually thinking of moving. I mean this flat is nice, but not quite right. Dorian wants to move to a cottage in the countryside. It sounds lovely, but I just can't seem to fathom the idea of moving away from the park."

"Where we first met.” Nostalgia laced the Doctor’s voice as he spoke. I nodded and smiled over at him. He still hadn't touched his cup of tea. "So, you both want a bigger place." I nodded again. "Enough space for future children, I suppose." The Doctor spoke lightly, with friendliness and encouragement. I tore my gaze from his.

"No," I bluntly replied. My hands gripped my cup tightly. The burning sensation from the heat of the cup transferred to my hands and grounded me—distracted me so I wouldn't let the tears fall. I cleared my throat to dissipate some discomfort. "We had a pregnancy scare a while back and I got tested." The Doctor’s face sank and his eyes dulled as he realized where my statement was going. "I can't have kids. I naturally don't work right." I wiped furiously at my eyes where tears formed despite my adamant conviction not to cry. "We've talked about adoption, maybe later." I looked down at the liquid in the cup, trying not to see the look of sympathy on the Doctor's face. "Can we talk about something else?" I muttered as my voice broke over the syllables.

The Doctor cleared his throat and in a muffled tone, searched for something else to say. "How's your writing going?" He continued to stare at me. It was a bit unnerving, but I didn't want to read into his gaze. He knew something that he wasn't telling me. I answered anyway.

"I'm being published." I smiled, trying to lift my mood. Excitement pulsed through me about it. "I'm all set and ready to go. I just have to wait for the release date—sometime in October." My smile grew a bit brighter. "I mean, I've been published before—one or two short stories in different collections, a few short fictions here and there. But this is my first real novel. It's all prepared for release—title, cover art, editing and all." The Doctor's look of concern made me pause. "It probably won't sell well. It is my first, but I have high hopes." I looked over to the window. "You knew me as famous when we first met. I imagine something good will fall out of this. I mean, if not the first novel, maybe the next."

Before the Doctor could answer, the familiar sound of keys in the door met my ears. I stood from my position and waited patiently, though I bounced on my toes. Dorian sauntered into the kitchen, setting his keys down on the counter as he made his way over to me. His warm, familiar embrace relaxed my spine as I melted into him. His fingers tilted my chin as he placed a fervent, needy kiss on my lips.

Dorian hadn't realized, however, that we had company. I drew my lips away, still leaning into him, and cupped his face in my hands.

"We got a visitor today." I gestured to the Doctor. Dorian’s eyes moved to acknowledge our visitor. Upon seeing the Time Lord, my husband nodded, but said nothing more as his jaw clenched. The Doctor looked away. Dorian wasn't exactly pleased to see him sitting in our kitchen drinking tea. I stood still, trying to think of a solution for this rift between my husband and my best friend. The last they saw each other—to my knowledge—was three years ago and they parted somewhat amicably.

But animosity had festered in Dorian as he confronted the Doctor for his actions. "You left her without so much as a backwards glance, she was devastated. You couldn't have been kinder?" Dorian's steely gaze and accusations hit the Doctor hard. "She secluded herself to her room for months after you left. She would barely come out. I knew what you intended, but I can't believe you didn't ease her into it." I nudged Dorian in the ribs, hoping it would prompt him to shut up. “I begged you to come visit whenever I happened to stumble upon you and yet you stayed away only to reappear now.” My gasp and tightening of my grip ended my husband’s rant, but his eyes remained steely, glaring at the Doctor.

Silence hung in the air as Dorian’s words settled. That was where he had gone when he had strapped his vortex manipulator to his wrist. My hand relaxed its grip as my fingers trailed up his arm to dance on his cheek. His gaze turned to mine and softened instantly. A grateful smile played on my lips as I looked to this man who loved me more than words could express.

"That's the past,” I soothed. “I'm happy he came to visit." I leaned my forehead to Dorian’s as I muttered a quiet ‘thank you’. I drew back and looked to my friend. My hands clapped together, breaking the solemn moment. "Now, today is my birthday. And we three are going out to celebrate and everyone is going to be happy because I am sure as hell ecstatic that I am still alive to see this day." I looked to both of them. They stared at each other, but eventually, Dorian nodded and wrapped his arm tighter around my waist. The Doctor forced a smile.

We ventured out of the flat and I locked the door behind us. There was still some light in the sky, so Dorian guided us through the park on the way to our destination. The Doctor followed along. The surrounding tension relaxed as we spent time in each other’s company.

"How have your lives been, other than getting married and all that?" The Doctor asked.

"Well, I'm working in a museum, curating and planning. It's interesting work and pays decent enough." Dorian glanced over to the Doctor and down at me. His grip pulsed around my waist. I snuggled closer as we walked, practically trying to cocoon myself in his jacket. "I assume you know Laura is being published." I nodded.

"But I also work as a freelance copy editor for a publishing company that specializes in kids books." I shrugged. “Everyone’s real nice and I get to work from home a lot.” The Doctor smiled and nodded.

By the time we neared the Peter Pan statue, I needed to sit down. It was always the statue. It was where I met the Doctor and where he left me, where I spent so many hours after work wondering if he would come back. I found a park bench and sat down. Dorian sat next to me and moved his arm to wrap around my shoulders. The Doctor stood before us, concern evident on his face. There was nothing to be worried about.

"This always happens, you know, now." I tried to explain, but the concern stayed plastered on the Doctor's face. "It's just a little after effect of being so sick." I shrugged as I tried to brush it off and reassure him. "Really, I feel better than ever. I haven't relapsed and it's been three years. Really, no need to worry, I'm just a bit tired." I grabbed Dorian's other hand and began to play with his fingers.

Of course, the Doctor remained worried about my well-being. He had the right to be. I would love to be blasé and nonchalant about the whole thing, but every day I went about my routine with a sense of fear that I would just collapse and no one would know what happened to me. While I was at the office or at the grocery store or walking through the park and no one would know why I died. It could sneak up on me and there would be nothing to prevent it.

I closed my eyes and lay my head on Dorian's shoulder, enjoying the cool breeze and trying to regain my breath. Dorian and the Doctor started talking about what the Doctor had been up to and how Dorian was doing at work. I listened to them talking as I relaxed. Dorian’s voice rumbled beneath me and calmed me, though it took longer than normal for me to regain my strength.

"I've been around, you know me, never in one place too long." The Doctor sounded gloomy, like he sometimes did when he spoke about being alone. "But I get by just fine." I opened my eyes to look at him.

"You have to promise me, you won't keep that way. I mean, you need the company, the friends." I sighed in delight as Dorian's thumb stroked the back of my hand. "Being lonely is worse than dying. Trust me." Movement caught my attention through my periphery. My eyes followed it to the statue of Peter Pan.

I wasn't expecting what I saw.

There, right in front of the statue, stood Oodmund. He just stared at me, unmoving. A shiver raced down my spine. And the next moment, Oodmund reached for his communicator ball to speak to me. Everything else melted away. Dorian kept stroking my hand and the Doctor still stood in front of us. But only I saw the alien in front of the statue.

"The time has come, Laura." The words shot through my mind like a red-hot spike. I didn't want to hear them. My head tried to shake them away. I sat up straight with a little difficulty.

"No,” I refused audibly. I didn't know if Oodmund could hear me, but I said it anyway. "I've been fine. Getting better, not as tired." The Doctor’s eyes darted back and forth from me to the direction I was looking. His confusion covered his face, but that wasn’t my concern at the moment.

"Laura, who are you talking to?" The Doctor knelt down in front of me and grabbed my shoulders.

"There is nothing to be done. Be happy that your sunset will come surrounded by love." Oodmund replaced his communicator ball to his shirt and walked away, his form disappearing into the scenery.

My eyes kept searching for him, for some explanation more about what was happening—why it was happening now. Sobs pulled at my throat as tears began to pool in my eyes. I ripped my body from the Doctor's grasp and went to wipe the tears from my eyes.

My eyes fell to my hands as I muttered, "I've been told it's my time." As soon as the words escaped my lips, Dorian's arms encased me in their warmth. The Doctor took out his screwdriver and it buzzed as he tried to figure out what was wrong with me. I didn't even know what the matter with me was, but he gave me an answer a minute later.

"Your lungs aren't getting enough air to your brain. Each breath you take gives you less and less. If you can't inhale fully, you'll—" He didn't finish his thought. I could see the gears frantically turning in his mind. "We're going to see the ood. They can postpone it again and you can carry on happily." The Doctor took a step to rush away, but my hand struck out grasp his.

"The ood can’t help me now." My lips pressed together in the attempt of a smile. The Doctor’s body crouched down before me. "I knew this day might come. I'm just happy you both are here so that I don't have to be alone." I leaned back to snuggle into Dorian as the Doctor played with my fingers.

"I don't want you to go. We just started our lives together," Dorian whispered into my hair and kissed my forehead. His hand cupped the back of my neck, drawing me to look at him. "You can pull through this. I know you can do anything you set your mind to." My tears streaked down my cheeks. His eyes pleaded with me—and I tried. My eyes fluttered in fatigue, but I kept them open.

"I'm so sorry,” I said as my voice cracked. My gaze fell to my best friend. “You can leave if you can’t stand this." I let go of the Doctor's hand and placed mine in my lap.

I waited for the Doctor to walk away. I knew Dorian would stay with me, but this was torture for the Doctor. It was probably more difficult than watching someone just walk away from the TARDIS because guilt filled his eyes as he looked to me. I cursed whoever was listening in whatever afterlife existed that I would have to die from some alien illness. But the Doctor once again grabbed my hand.

"I'm sorry, Laura." The Doctor had tears in his eyes. I knew he wouldn't cry in front of me. He might bottle it up for ages until, all in one stressful moment, he let it rip out of him in a rage storm of fury. Or he might wallow away in a heart-wrenching depression, sinking lower and lower into an abyss until he could no longer go on. Neither scenario was acceptable. He could just let it go and forget about me entirely—but I selfishly didn't want that to happen either. "This is entirely my fault. I'm so sorry." I shook my head again.

"Don't. It’s not your fault. I don’t blame you. There’s nothing we could have done and nothing we can do now." I sighed as the Doctor lifted his head, a sad excuse for an idea popping into his mind. I continued, "Unless you want to do something like rip a hole in the space time continuum." The Doctor's head drooped. "Just let it be." My eyes started to close, exhaustion dragging them down. I forced myself to stay awake—to keep bringing depleting amounts of air into my lungs, to keep myself alive.

The end didn't come as fast as I thought it would. My body grew more tired, but it was a slow progression. The sun dropped behind the horizon as we sat at the park bench. The air blew a little colder as the silence kept suffocating the words I wanted to say. I knew that I couldn't keep up this fight in the silence.

A tired feeling washed over me. I knew that was my body’s signal. I looked over at the Doctor. "You won't forget me, will you?" A tear fell from my eye.

"You? Never." The Doctor smiled up at me, but I noticed the way his cheeks glistened because he was crying too.

"Good." I squeezed his hand in mine and turned to Dorian. "How are you going to be?"

"I don't know," Dorian's eyes poured out his grief. I couldn't help the sob that escaped my lips. "I don't think I can do this without you." My hand reached up and found its way to stroke his face. He had let a beard start to grow, his cheeks becoming scruffy with the stubble. He was growing out his hair as well—the ends just barely brushing his collar.

"I'm so happy I met you,” my lips mumbled into his before they brushed together in a kiss. A thought crossed my mind as I looked into Dorian's eyes. I hesitantly turned away from him."Doctor, why am I famous? You knew of me before we even met. How?"

He looked up at me as I asked my question. "Because everyone who read your book wanted more, but you weren't around to write anything else." The Doctor looked away from me. "And now I know it was completely my fault." I sighed, agitation replacing fatigue.

"Stop it, Doctor. It’s not your fault,” I snapped. A cough stuck in my throat. And the fight drained out of me.

Dorian leaned in to whisper in my ear. "Please, don't leave me." His words blew a warm breath on my ear. I turned to kiss him, our lips melding together one last time. I tried to keep up with his need, but my energy drained away. I pulled a centimeter back.

"I don't want to,” I replied in a whisper across his lips, “but I happen to know, there is a girl in the forests of Camelot waiting to meet you and be unexpectedly swept off her feet." Our lips brushed as I spoke.

Dorian nodded and kissed every inch of my face. His arms kept me warm as everything seemed to descend more rapidly toward the end.

“You’ll have to thank the ood for me—for giving me such a peaceful death,” I mused. My companions’ eyes watched me as I spoke. “This is much less violent than I anticipated. Less coughing, less blood, less fear.”

Eventually, I could no longer fight the exhaustion, feeling as though I would wake up after a short nap. I turned to Dorian and grabbed the Doctor's hand.

"I'm just going to rest my eyes for a moment. I'll wake up again in a few minutes, ok?" My eyes met Dorian’s. Tears welled in his, but he smiled for me. Both of them, even I, knew that this was it. “Such a beautiful sunset,” I murmured as I closed my eyes and—


	14. Decisions

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Laura needs to find a new book.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Final chapter. I hope you guys enjoyed reading this!

There were a lot of things that changed my life. Realizing my love of writing stories, meeting my best friends, branching out as an adult. I didn't even have to stray far from home to find myself. But that was a problem. I was scared to leave home. I could barely go to the places where I was most familiar.

Then one day changed my life forever.

"You really should read more." My friend, Heather, was berating me. "I mean you read, but you haven't talked about a book that’s spoken to you in ages. You need to find another great book. You need to be inspired again."

We sat eating lunch in the university union, waiting for her next class to start. I knew what she was talking about—I was losing an uphill battle with my creativity. I was slumping, burning out. There was no more inspiration for me to grasp. Usually, my imagination flowed through my mind like a river after a storm. I could read a great book and that would add a spark to my creativity. I didn't have much time for reading these days—not for pleasure at least.

"I mean, you're graduating in a semester. And you haven't even begun to send out some of your finished short stories to publishers. Really, Laura, sometimes I wonder what you're doing." She sipped her coffee and I grabbed a cold French-fry, popping it into my mouth. I picked up another one, squeezing it in my fingers until it burst with mushy potato and grease.

"You're right," I tossed the fry into the tray and grabbed my bag. Stuffing in my wallet, I stood and started walking away. "I'm going to a bookstore." Heather called after me, but I hardly heard her shouting.

I unlocked my car and ducked in, quickly turning the ignition and putting it into reverse. My car backed up and I drove away from the campus.

The nearest bookstore was a Barnes and Noble. Not my favorite bookstore, but it would have to do. At least it was nearby and not halfway across the state. Though, it was still fairly far away—I had to drive a little more than twenty minutes to get there.

Pulling into the parking spot, I grabbed my wallet from my backpack and got out of my car. There weren't many people around, but then again, I didn't expect there to be. Not when it was surrounded by a dying mall. I just needed one book to read, that wouldn't take too long to find. Actually, that was a lie. I knew that it probably would take forever—I had no idea what I was looking for so I would have to look at _everything_.

I walked inside and smiled. There was just something about bookstores. My first job was at a bookstore. Of course I quit once school started getting tougher and I couldn't juggle all the responsibilities. This one was two levels, but I immediately knew where to head: Fiction.

A man stood in the aisle of fiction, browsing the shelves as I intended to. Awkwardly, I stepped around him and started looking at the books with the author's last names beginning with A. While I perused the books—looking at titles and completely judging books by their covers—the man glanced in my direction a number of times. I ignored him and eventually landed on the books with the author's name beginning with K.

Out of all the books, one stood out— _The Rose Garden_. The artwork of the cover caught my eye, instantly drawing me to the book. As I reached out to grab it, another hand reached at the same time, picking up the book before I could get my hands on it. Of course, it was the only other person in the aisle—the strange man. Who also happened to be really very handsome. I averted my eyes immediately as his gaze landed on me—because what else are you supposed to do when an attractive person sets their attention on you.

"Sorry," I muttered, retracting my hand. My eyes flitted to the copy in his hand—the only copy of the book on the shelf. I sighed and kept looking at the other books. A hand came to rest gently on my shoulder.

"I'm sorry, you take it." He smiled at me, looking quite sad. He held out the book to me and my fingers wrapped around it. "There's only one copy, but you should have it." I managed the courage to examine him as he spoke to me. Handsome might be considered somewhat of an understatement in his case. He was a bit older than I was, possibly in his mid-30s with scruff on his cheeks and hair that just brushed his collar. His eyes, though deeply pained, were kind and gentle. And his accent had me swooning. "I was just picking up another copy for my wife, hers is worn down, but she's in no great hurry to get it." He smiled and my cheeks heated as I moved my eyes away from him once more.

"Well, thank you, but—" I stepped forward as he began walking away. I looked at the book grasped in my hands. "Wait," I insisted. My hands shoved the book forward, holding it out towards him. "Really, you can have it. I can always find another book." I watched his face fall, something weighing down on his shoulders.

"What's your name?" the man asked as he turned back towards me. I pulled my arm and the book back to my chest.

"Laura Dean,” I replied, surprised that I would give a stranger my full name. The man turned his face towards the ground. The look of pain and sheer misery on his face made my bones weak. He drew a deep breath into his lungs and deflated before me. "Are you alright?" The man’s eyes trailed back to me.

"Yeah, I'm fine. I'm Dorian Foster." He smiled a little as he gestured to himself. I once again stretched my hand forward to offer the book, but he grasped my hand and pushed it back to me. "There's no replacing this book." He turned and walked away. "Goodbye, Laura." The man disappeared at the end of the aisle, only looking back once at me as I stood in confusion, my brow furrowed and something niggling in the back of my head.

The man’s last look lingered long after he walked away. My eyes continued scanning over the books once more, examining covers and reading titles—picking none of them up. Eventually, I stopped looking at others and scrutinized the book in my hand.

I stood there, flipping through the pages and running my hands over the cover. Wondering what was so special about it, I walked down the aisle, intent on finding a chair to sit so I could read the first couple chapters. As I turned left from the aisle, I ran headfirst into someone. The book dropped from my hand and the person dropped their books as well.

"I'm so sorry. I wasn't watching where I was going,” I apologized to the man as I noticed his name tag. "You work here?" With his nod, I dropped to the floor to help pick up the many books he was undoubtedly restocking to the shelves. “I didn’t see you coming. I'm sorry that I ran into you." I grabbed every book, he did the same. "Gosh, I feel like I'm talking a lot." I had handed the guy half of the books he had originally been carrying. I had the other half in my hands—my book at the bottom of the stack. "Why don't I help you carry these while you put them back?" The guy smiled and nodded. "I'm Laura Dean, by the way."

"John," The man said, extending one of his hands. "John Smith." He had a British accent and was dressed in nice pants, a nice shirt, and a bowtie. I shook his hand and gestured to his neck.

"I like your bowtie. How long have you been working here?" We walked to one aisle, John putting books back in their rightful places.

"Only about a week, or so. I've never stayed in one place too long. This is just a short stop before moving on." He looked back at me, a sad look in his eyes. "Yes, won't be around for much longer."

"Why do you move around so much?" I asked as he stacked some books back into the shelves. "If you don't mind me asking, that is." I noticed a few spaces for some of the books I was holding. I placed them back. We walked and found other shelves where the books belonged.

"People tend to get hurt if I stay around them too long." His statement confused me. "People don't expect it, but they do things they wouldn't normally, trying to help me, or they end up in pain from just following along with what I’m doing." Pain and guilt filled his eyes. But I still didn't understand what he was talking about. He looked at me. I tried to lighten the mood.

"Well, I can tell you this. You're not gonna be hurting me. I'm indestructible." I smiled over at him as I put back some books on the shelves around us. "Though you did say you were leaving soon." He juggled some books in his grip—though why he was so caught off-guard by my statement, I couldn’t guess.

"Yes, very soon,” he agreed, voice stilted. The two of us put back the last of our books and I walked to the front of the store with him to buy my selection. He rang me up and I took the plastic bag with my book and dropped my wallet inside. He smiled at me. "Maybe I'll be seeing you." I looked at him over the cash register.

"Yeah, well, when's your next break?" I leaned on the counter and waited for his answer. "I mean, in a strictly friendly way," I asserted as he seemed to get slightly uncomfortable. "After all, you sort of owe me." There was a look of confusion on his face. "I mean, I did just help you put back some pretty heavy books. The least you could do is buy me a coffee." John raised his hands in defeat, though still looking hesitant about the whole idea.

"What the hell, what could it hurt?" He smiled and we walked over to the café in the store. John ordered tea and I got myself some frilly coffee drink that was probably more cream and sugar than coffee.

We found a small table by the window to sit at. I dropped my bag over the chair and sat down. We sat in silence for a bit. I took a sip of my drink. The sweetness punched me in the teeth and I chuckled. John looked at me and I gestured to my drink.

"It’s so sweet—like instant cavity sweet." I smiled over at him. "And I’ve never had a cavity in my life—don’t even know what I would do if I got one."

"See a dentist, probably." John chortled and I let out a laugh and nodded. "I mean, that's what you're supposed to do." I took another small sip.

"Knowing my luck, something would go horrible wrong and I’d end up in a dental nightmare." I kept smiling and chuckling, but John's face had fallen.

"I'm sure you'd be just fine." He took a long sip of tea. I looked down at the coffee before me. "Well then, since we’re having a nice chat, tell me about yourself." I grabbed the coffee cup, holding it at the moment for warmth.

"Well, I'm in college, studying to be a creative writer." My body leaned back in my chair as I took a sip of my drink. "Though, I don't know what I'm doing. I have no real career lined up for me. I'll probably end up going into a dead end job, hating my life. And I'll be stuck there forever."

"Or not," John encouraged. "There are a million possibilities out there for you. You could save the world." John took another sip of his tea. "You never know."

"Yeah, well, I have no direction at all. There's only one thing I've ever wanted to do with my life—only one thing and it’s completely stupid." My eyes remained firmly on the window as he observed me.

"Well, what is it you've wanted to do?" He waited for me to answer.

"I said it's stupid, I mean, I would never have to courage to _actually_ do it." I looked down at my cup, tracing my finger around the rim as I set it back on the table. "God, what am I doing with my life?" I put my head in my hands.

"You're on the path that you need to be on. There are infinite decisions that we have to meet, but you must have faith that the choices you make lead you in the right direction no matter what." John finished his tea and kept his eye on me. I nudged my cup of coffee with my knuckle, avoiding his gaze as I sat up straight.

"Fine, I've always wanted to live in England." I looked over at John, waiting for him to tell me what a silly idea it was. But he didn't speak. "Well?” I tried to prompt him, but he didn't really react as I expected.

"Well, what?" John tilted his head and crossed his arms. "Is there something special about that? Some strange reaction you expect from people?"

"Normally people look at me funny. Like I'm some sort of loon because I want to live outside of the country." I ran my fingers through my hair. "I mean, really, I've wanted to since my family visited when I was in middle school."

"You should go," John stated.

"What?" I knocked the cup and it teetered. I caught it before it spilled, amazed at my reflexes. Though I was shocked at what John said. No one ever told me things like that.

"Pick up after graduation and just move to London or do whatever you want. It's your life, live it before it's gone." John looked out the window, staring at the cars parked outside in the lot.

"Is that why you move around do much? Living your life before it's gone?" I asked. "Or do you just like to travel and find new places?"

John looked over at me, his eyes slightly squinted and his finger tapping on his chin. "The second one, I believe. What's better than seeing a place with new eyes? Finding something new about somewhere you've already been? I've always wanted to travel and now that's all I do."

"You mean, except for an odd job here and there, I suppose. Even when you travel there are bills to pay." I smiled over at him. He nodded and shrugged.

"But I wouldn't change it for the world." John looked nostalgic.

I didn't want to rain on that feeling by bringing up his earlier sentiment about hurting everyone around him. He didn't deserve that. He was a strange man, so happy and bright but sad and serious at the same time. There was no way I was going to try to poke my way in there. After all, he was a nice stranger that I had just met. It would take a lot more coffees to be able to open up about ourselves and be close to considering each other friends.

"Laura," John reached across the table and grasped my hands in his. "Promise me you'll move to London, follow your dream, and keep writing."

"I'll keep writing. I don't know about my dream, but moving to London? Maybe," I picked up my cup of coffee and took a small sip, cringing at the lukewarm temperature. I stood and threw away my unfinished cup and went back to grab my bag. "See you around, John. If you're still here next time I need a book." I took my bag and walked away from the table.

John stayed sitting, staring out the window. I walked out to my car, unlocking it and threw my bag inside. My eyes looked back at the coffee shop window to see John still there. After a brief wave, I ducked into my car and drove away, heading back to my home.

The whole drive, my mind jumped from thought to thought—from the possibility of actually moving to England to the life I would lead if I stayed here. As I pulled into my driveway I knew my mind was made up. I just didn't know what was next. And in that moment, I wished for a time machine to take a peek at what was in store for me.


End file.
